ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to speed up investigations against the National Testing Service (NTS), which conducts tests for admission to educational institutions and appointments in government organisations, including NAB.

On Tuesday, NAB`s chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal sought a preliminary report of the inquiry being conducted by the Rawalpindi NAB against the alleged corruption, question paper leak and other irregularities in the NTS as per the complaints received by the bureau which has also on occasion used the services of the NTS to hire fresh recruits.

Besides allegations of corruption, NAB is also trying to check if the NTS has implemented the Supreme Court`s directives to charge candidates half the amount they were charging earlier to appear for tests.

Earlier, the NTS was charging students and candidates between Rs400 and Rs1,000 but the apex court ordered the government to direct the NTS to charge candidates half the amount while the remaining amount would be paid by the relevant government organisations.

This came as a direct result of an application filed by a university student with the apex court, claiming that for each job vacancy candidates had to pay a hefty amount of fee which an unemployed person could not afford.

It was learnt that before the 50pc cut, those applying for government jobs (grade 9 to 14) had to pay a test fee ranging between Rs400 and Rs500 while Rs700 to Rs1,000 were being charged for posts of grade 16 and above.

For its part, the federal government has directed the ministries concerned to make arrangements to ensure that half of the fees were paid by the relevant departments to reduce the burden on candidates.

The government directives also required that while hiring services of a testing agency, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules should be strictly followed to ensure minimum fee through open bidding.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar also recently sought a report from authorities on whether the government directives for a 50 per cent cut in the fee levied on applicants for government jobs appearing before the NTS were being complied with or not.

The investigation A month ago, the NAB chairman ordered NAB Rawalpindi`s Director General to conduct an inquiry after he receive several complaints against the NTS. The complaints included leaking of question papers, alleged corrupt practices and afailure to protectinterests of the students.

The Rawalpindi NAB has also been assigned to probe those responsible for allowing the NTS to conduct various examinations despite the presence of provincial and federal public service commissions.

They have also been assigned to examine reasons for the body`s failure of devising a foolproof, transparent and merit based examination system.

Balochistan appointments The NAB chief also stressed the need for merit-based appointments of candidates from Balochistan in the bureau.

During a meeting with a delegation of the Balochistan Bar Association, Justice Iqbal said that competent lawyers from Balochistan would be appointed in the prosecution branch of NAB as per their share of the quota.

Brushing aside any discrimination in ongoing NAB cases, he said that each and every pending NAB reference would be reviewed and apprehensions of the people of Balochistan in this regard would be addressed on merit.

The delegation presented some of its demands to the chairman including the neglected Balochistan Quota in NAB`s appointments, appointments of candidates in NAB from other provinces on Balochistan`s quota without any legal justification.

The delegation was of the view that lawyers from Balochistan had no representation in the prosecution branchofthe bureau.

They demanded that someone from Balochistan should be appointed for various posts in the bureau such as Prosecutor General of Accountability, Deputy Prosecutor General of Accountability and other important positions.

The NAB chairman assured the delegation that their issues would be resolved as per the law and he would visit the province soon.