Withdrawal of posts referred to JKPSC, JKSSB brings GoI, J&K at loggerheads
Amid simmering resentment over withdrawal of all the posts referred to J&K Public Service Commission (PSC) and J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) prior to October 2019, the decision has visibly brought the Centre and the UT administration of Jammu and Kashmir at loggerheads with the former declaring that it was not consulted before any such move.
“As far as the Centre is concerned, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which is under my control, has issued no such direction (for withdrawal of the posts). We had issued only one order and it was to abolish interviews for recruitment in government jobs,” Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister in PMO and Member of Parliament from Kathua-Doda parliamentary seat told reporters here.
The interviews (for government jobs) were abolished, like other states of the country, to ensure transparency and fairness in the selection process, Dr Singh said, adding “we also made skill test qualifying only and the was decided that the merit would purely be judged on the basis of written test. We had issued only this order. If there is anything apart from this (withdrawal of posts), it should be asked from the UT administration”.
The Union Minister’s statement is quite indicative that the UT administration has taken the decision (to withdraw all the posts referred to PSC and JKSSB prior to October 31, 2019 for which selection process has not been finalized till date) without taking the Centre into confidence.
It has snowballed into a major controversy with the opposition parties accusing the UT administration of pursuing “anti-youth” policies. An order of General Administration Department (GAD) said, “All posts referred to JKPSC/JKSSB prior to 31-10-2019, for which selections have not been finalized till date, as also the posts in which there are litigation’s and the cases are pending in Hon’ble court shall be deemed to have been withdrawn with immediate effect”.
In the communication, the GAD has also directed all the concerned to implement this direction of the Administrative Council in letter and spirit. The UT administration has specified any reason for its decision on withdrawing all the posts referred to recruiting agencies prior to October 2019.
If sources are to be believed, the selections for nearly 1,500 posts of different categories and departments, advertised by the JKPSC and JKSSB before October 2019, had not been finalized till date and all such posts are deemed to be withdrawn following the government’s bizarre directive.
Sources said the decision would affect the career prospects of thousands of candidates who have either crossed the upper age limit for being eligible to apply the government jobs afresh or at the threshold of overage.
Clamour grows for rescinding govt order J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu has warned the UT administration to immediately withdraw the “illegal and arbitrary order”, saying “the government should not play with the career of the youth of Jammu & Kashmir”.
M.K. Bhardwaj, President of the Association said, “As a matter of fact that number of litigation’s are also pending before the High Court/CAT wherein specific directions have been issued by the High Court time to time but this arbitrary and illegal order has superseded the powers of the High Court and with one stroke of pen the future of the youth has been ruined by the government”.
Apni Party state general secretary, Vikram Malhotra also sought that the UT administration should review withdrawal order of the posts, saying ““The decision to withdraw advertised posts was taken by the government in an arbitrary and theocratic manner pushing the unemployed towards the darkness”.
Jammu and Kashmir Border Area Development Conference (JKBADC) has also strongly reacted to the decision and demanded that it should be scrapped immediately.
