LG Manoj Sinha led Govt to fast-track recruitments in JK

Srinagar, Aug 18: The process of recruiting various posts piling up in government departments is likely to expedite in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Centre had already announced on the floor of Lok Sabha that 50000 vacancies would be filled in government departments in J&K during the ongoing fiscal.
A budgetary provision of Rs 2000 crore was also earmarked for the recruitment process in J&K UT’s maiden budget presented in the Parliament earlier this year.
Sources told news agency KINS that the high-level panel already constituted to fast-track the recruitment process have been asked by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha led administration to speed up the work.
The four-member panel was tasked to identify the vacancies with priority to Class-IV jobs, to finalise the procedures to be adopted, to obtain necessary sanctions.
Sources said that the government has asked the panel to meet regularly and submit the recommendations to recruiting agencies.
The constitution of the panel was a major step in the administration’s endeavour to restore employment in the UT, which is witnessing the ever-growing unemployment, even as some of the past recruitments turned out to be full of irregularities.
The panel was asked to finalise the procedure to be followed for recruitment, so that the principles of transparency and inclusiveness are maintained and the process of recruitment is concluded speedily.
The committee was also asked to ensure that necessary sanctions/approvals are obtained, rules notified (wherever required) for enabling Services Selection Board to commence the process of recruitment immediately and removing hitches in the recruitment process, if any.
The government had ordered the Committee to meet frequently, if necessary on a daily basis, and interact with Administrative Secretaries to ensure that the indents for recruitments are forwarded to the Service Selection Board by 22nd May, an official order in this regard had said.
“The Chairman-Nodal Officer shall be responsible for the tasks assigned to the Committee and he shall be assisted by other officers of the Committee,” it had said.
It was informed that the panel will continue to monitor the process till the recruitment process is completed.
In order to restore the employment, the government had also set up a task force which was directed to formulate a time-bound plan for recruitment to government jobs at different levels, to resume the delayed and halted recruitments.
The eight-member task force led by the Financial Commissioner Finance Department was asked to submit its report before May 15.
A consolidated date estimates around 81000 vacancies in various government departments in the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
To fast track the vacant posts the government recently appointed B R Sharma as Chairman Public Service Commission (PSC).
It may be recalled that the erstwhile JKPSC was closed down following the re-organization of Jammu and Kashmir State into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
As per the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019, the JKPSC will continue to be a recruiting agency for various posts in J&K UT while recruitments in Ladakh would be done by the Union Public Service Commission.
Sources said that the failure of the previous government to appoint the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) was delaying the recruitment for various gazetted posts of the candidates, who were shortlisted for various posts including administrative services and Assistant professors.
Sources said that the selection process of the various posts was stalled, due to the fact that Commission chairman and other members were not in place, in absence of which not any policy decision or the selection process could have been completed.