Government begins process to fill vacancies in J&K

10,000 to be recruited in first accelerated phase under new domicile law

May 23, 2020 07:18 pm | Updated 07:43 pm IST - Srinagar

 The selection process for first phase of 10,000 plus posts in J&K to be commenced immediately in June 2020.

The selection process for first phase of 10,000 plus posts in J&K to be commenced immediately in June 2020.

The recruitment process for over 80,000 posts halted on August 9 last year — the day the Centre revoked J&K’s special status — has resumed in the Union Territory for all domiciles, including eligible non-locals and Pakistani refugees as per the new, amended domicile laws.

Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu on Friday evening chaired a high level meeting “to review the progress made for accelerated recruitment at various levels in the government with particular focus on Class-IV and Class-III vacancies”.

ARC report

A government spokesman said the Accelerated Recruitment Committee (ARC) submitted its preliminary proposals for recruitment to over 10,000 posts.

“Weightage would be given in forthcoming recruitment to Class-IV vacancies to widows, destitute, divorced women and single mothers and candidates of those families from where there is no family member (parents or siblings) in government job. The Domicile Certificate would be required after a candidate gets selected to a particular post,” the spokesman said.

Also read |Kashmir parties oppose Centre’s new domicile law

He clarified that for divisional level posts, the candidate of a particular division will get preference. “However, for the UT-level posts, there will be free and fair open competition among all the eligible candidates of the Union Territory,” he added.

The L-G directed that the selection process for first phase of 10,000 plus posts be commenced immediately in June 2020.

3,000 in next phase

In the second phase, selections for departments like Health and Medical Education Department will be made, “where 3,000 vacancies are going to be filled up”.

According to Ministry of Home Affairs figures, there were 84,000 vacant government posts in the UT by February this year. The MHA had said the delay in recruitment was “because details were still being scrutinised”.

The fast track recruitment process for 10,000 posts comes just six days after the UT administration notified procedures for new domicile certificates, which will allow eligible non-locals living in the UT between seven to 15 years to apply for these posts.

In fact, for the post of Chairman of J&K Board Of School Education (J&K BOSE), a notification specified that any intending candidate should be “an officer of All India Service or Kashmir Administrative Service with three years of experience in educational administration”. It is for the first time that officers of All India Services and Kashmir Administrative Service have been declared eligible for the post, which was otherwise filled by a search committee.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti accused the UT administration of retrenching locals in several departments recently.

“While the world grapples with COVID, the pandemic has provided cover to a rogue regime in furthering its agenda of punishing and debilitating J&K. Creating new domicile laws, laying off employees from government jobs, etc. is meant to disempower Kashmiris,” said Ms. Iltija.

JKAP welcome

However, Altaf Bukhari, president of the recently floated J&K Apni Party (JKAP) has welcomed the accelerated recruitment process.

Also read: Kashmiri Pandits welcome amended domicile laws

“The government should not insist that the job aspirants produce Domicile Certificates during the selection process and instead accept their permanent resident certificates as a bona fide residential proof in view of constant engagement of revenue officials, who are working as the front line department to deal with the COVID-19 crisis,” said Mr. Bukhari.

He demanded that all government recruitment agencies, including Public Service Commission, should accept the Permanent Residence Certificates and migrant cards as bona fide residential proof instead of Domicile Certificates, which can be submitted to the respective departments at a later stage.

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