PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Monday approved a report of its committee for reforms in the provincial Public Service Commission to improve the working of this government recruiting body.

Public health engineering minister Shah Farman briefed reporters about the cabinet decisions at the provincial assembly`s committee room.

He said the cabinet, in its March 19, 2015, meeting, formed a committee headed by senior minister for local government Inayatullah Khan to prepare a report about how to strengthen the provincial PSC.

Mr. Farman said the committee was also tasked with reviewing the commission`s recruitment process and giving suggestions for its improvement. He said the cabinet approved the committee`s proposals after a review.

`In light of the cabinet`s decision, the KPPSC Ordinance 1978 will be amended to bring the appointment to grade 11 back to the ambit of the relevant departments,` he said.

The minister said before its up-gradation to grade 11, the junior clerk`s scale was grade 7 and his/her appointment was done on departmental level but later on, it went to the ambit of the commission.

Mr. Farman said the cabinet also agreed to keep intact the composition of the committee, which selected the PSC chairman.

He said the committee was headed by the chief secretary and consisted of additional chief secretary and vice chancellor of the University of Peshawar as members.

`The committee will do the selection of commission members. However, its chairman will also serve as the committee member in the member selection process,` he said.

The minister said the cabinet also approved the proposalto upgrade the post of the commission`s secretary to grade 20, while two new grade 19 posts of the director (research and information technology) had been approved.

He said the commission would complete the process to recruit non-syllabus posts from six to eight months, while the process for syllabus posts would take a year to complete.

Mr. Farman said the cabinet also approved budget strategy paper for the fiscal year 2016-17.

He said the budget strategy paper provided insights into the government`s development priorities and an overview of the upcoming budget and informed the government departments about availability of funds.

The minister said the cabinet also approved a proposal to increase professional tax from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 in the province.

He said the tax in question had not been increased in the last 15 years and that after approval from both the provincial and national assemblies, the government would notify increase in it.

Mr. Farman said the increase of levy would increase the province`s revenue. He said the cabinet also approved the removal of sections147 and 148 from the Limitation Act 1908 in light of the 2012 Peshawar High Court ruling, which declared the clauses unconstitutional.

The minister said the Council of Islamic Ideology too had declared the clauses in question repugnant to Islam.

He said the cabinet also approved a proposal to spend oil and gas royalty on setting up solar streetlights and sports facilities in oil and gas producing districts.

Mr. Farman said amendments to the Galiyat Development Authority Act 1996 were also approved. The cabinet also offered Fateha for the victims of the Lahore park suicide blast.