I dont think the news has weightage. The candidates are given departments on the basis of the number of jobs available as per quota with respect to their merit.

If a candidate fails to impress the interviewers, he is given poor marks, therefore, other candidates supersede him. This way the merit of the candidates is decided.

Then comes the application of quota. For instance, there are five DMG seats in a province and the candidate finishes at sixth place in that province. If all the first five candidates choose DMG, the sixth candidate will be given the second department of his choice.

The FPSC chairman's power is limited to decide the interview marks of the candidate and not his department. The candidate automatically gets the department on the basis of his merit and the number of posts available as per quota.

Even the above news has clear examples, that Falak Sher (Punjab, merit number 57) would be considered for Customs as his first two choices PSP and DMG would be occupied by the candidates better in merit than Falak Sher. Similarly Syed Nabeel Haider (Sindh (U), merit number 78) is likely to be sent to the DMG instead of the PSP because there are four candidates who are superseding Nabeel Haider in Sindh. If there are four seats of PSP and all the above four candidates opt for it, then obviously Nabeel will be considered for his second choice which is DMG.