A Lahore High Court verdict has suspended the recruitment of not-so-lucky newly-hired people in grade one to five in the Pakistan Railways, who secured the prized jobs through a lucky draw regime. Their short-lived career has also clouded the Establishment Division’s step to amend the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1973. Also, so many other hiring in other federal ministries done through such rounds of draw will come under scrutiny in the coming days. The Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur benches of the Lahore High Court have suspended the ongoing hiring after Pakistan Railways Employees Union and a body of signals points-men challenged the process. The union dubbed the process as ‘parchi juwa’ (gambling) and against the Constitution and established rules of merit. The Pakistan Railways began recruiting the staff for low grade positions last month trough secret draws. Though the authorities claim that applicants were allowed to witness the process, the media, however, was deliberately kept away from the venue. The news of hiring through lucky draw was frowned upon by constitutional experts, human resource gurus and employees of the Railways. The earlier defined criteria for hiring process allocates 58 per cent seats for open merit, 20 per cent for the children of Railways employees, 10 per cent for former employees, five per cent for orphans and handicapped and two per cent for disabled persons. The novel idea of luck draw induction was the brainchild of the incumbent government, contrary to the pre-election slogans of upholding rule of law and merit. According to a petitioner, “The concept of balloting is against the constitutionally recognised principle of intelligible differentia required to be observed in public sector recruitments. There is no scope of intelligence when the entire process is to be left at the mercy of balloting. If this practice is allowed, the very concept of merit and fitness for appointments at government offices will be badly affected.” The final verdict of the court will clear the situation. The best course for the government will be to set certain criteria for every post. Each position requires certain skills, education and physical condition. In the coming days, when the government is to fill 11,000 posts in the Railways and thousands in other departments, it ought to formulate a policy guideline to hire the best among the lot. Our prime minister, whose youth was spent as skipper of the national team, always went for the right man for the right job. He should pass on his cricket experience of team selection to his ministers as well. *