It has miserably failed to perform its crucial responsibility, entrusted by the constitution, over the past several years. Politicization, nepotism and rampant corruption have replaced its constitutional obligation.

According to Article 139(2) of the constitution, the chairman and other members of PSC shall not be removed from office, except in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court. The constitution has provided such a safe-guard to its chairman and members so that they can act upholding the spirit of the institution, and not bow to any sort of pressure or intimidation.

The recent misdemeanors of the PSC have manifested the moral bankruptcy of this constitutional body. Leakage of questions of a highly competitive examination like BCS has become a regular event in the PSC. Such an undesirable situation has already taken heavy toll on the quality of the civil administration, bringing the entire system down.

The underlying truth is that the successive governments posted loyal persons, who implemented the agenda of their benefactors, to the key positions of the PSC.

The two major political parties, BNP and AL, who ruled the country for the past 15 years, influenced the recruitment process of the civil service, depriving many deserving candidates.

According to media reports, corruption in the PSC has been so rampant that bribes worth Tk 50 lakhs changed hands every day, in connection with recruitment and promotion of government officials during the last five years.

The PSC officials also did thriving business by allowing some candidates to fill up their answer sheets outside the examination halls. Tampering of BCS written test results was reported on many occasions.

The utter depravity of the PSC was exposed in the unfair selection process of 300 Upazila Election Officers, of whom 150 were activists of the Jatiyabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the BNP, and relatives of the BNP leaders.

Such recruitment has also made the election process vulnerable to corruption.

The leakage of BCS question papers has gone a step further to diminish the credibility of the PSC. A good number of photocopy shops in the Dhaka University campus were found openly selling the leaked-out question papers of the 24th BCS examination of 2003.

Despite having such vivid evidence the PSC, at first, did not admit the leakage. In the face of severe protest by the students, BCS candidates and their guardians, the PSC finally canceled that examination and arranged a fresh one.

The newspapers carried numerous reports on the leakage of question papers of the 25th BCS examination. Despite the wrangling, and the admission that the questions were leaked out, the chairman was adamant on her stand and did not postpone the examination.

Such a shameful turn of events has crippled the credibility of the PSC.

The Prothom Alo on February 18 ran a revealing report on PSC for making records in recruitment and also in corruption. PSC recruited 16, 418 officials in both cadre and non-cadre services during the past five years, which is almost equal to the total number of recruitments made in the last 25 years.

The PSC has also been made a den of corruption in the devious process of recruiting the record number of people in the service of the republic, leaving a large number of deserving candidates in deep frustration.

According to the media reports, Zinnatun Nesa Tahmida Begum, a teacher of Dhaka University who was loyal to BNP and made PSC chairman in 2001, played the vital role in making the PSC a champion in corruption.

Among the other nine members of the PSC, Prof Mahfuzur Rahman, Dr. Ashraful Islam Chowdhury, Latifur Rahman, Dr. Shahadat Hossain and Abdur Rouf have also been accused of being involved in massive corruption.

The recent World Bank (WB) policy note on governance, titled "Can the civil service be a key to progress in Bangladesh?" argued that the country urgently needs to develop a merit-based and efficient civil service capable of making policies and delivering services relevant in the 21st century.

The WB memo stressed the need for enactment of laws defining the role and responsibilities of the PSC as a legal framework for civil service management.

It also emphasized establishment of the PSC as an independent judge of merit to ensure recruitment of meritorious people in the civil service.

The members of the civil society demanded immediate resignation of the PSC chairman and members, confiscation of their properties, and bringing them to book for destroying the credibility of the constitutional body.

The demand came from the seminar titled "Structural reforms to ensure transparency and accountability of PSC," held on February 19 at TSC of Dhaka University.

The local government adviser to the caretaker government has already hinted at voluntary resignation of the chairman and members of the PSC, following the instance of the Election Commission and the Anti-corruption Commission. But it has been learnt that the PSC chairman and the members are not willing to resign voluntary.

The PSC is an institution which people look up to as the epitome of uprightness, and it has to shoulder the sacred responsibility of regulating recruitment to public bodies and promotions. Sadly, the PSC has been embroiled in allegations of massive corruption, nepotism and incompetence.

In an unprecedented act of corruption and nepotism during the tenure of the BNP-led alliance government, the PSC recruited a large number of officers on the basis of their political affiliation, not on their merit. Its fall-out will be felt for years to come.

The PSC chairman and the members are provided with constitutional protection for their services only for performing duties without fear or favour, not for massive corruption in civil service recruitment, which is tantamount to crime against the nation.

To restore its reputation and credibility, there is obviously a need for total reconstitution of the PSC. It must be manned by neutral and non-pliable personalities who will not bow to temptation. The quotas in service, which allow more room for corruption, also needs total elimination.

It is important to devise ways and means to extricate the PSC from political influence by bringing necessary modifications to its ordinance. The PSC chairman and the members are appointed by the president. A partisan president cannot select non-partisan persons for obvious reasons. A search committee, headed by the chief justice, may be formed to help selection of competent persons as the chairman and members of the PSC.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.