Will give substitutes till UT gets separate cadre
Senior officer tipped to get major posting
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 23: The Jammu and Kashmir Government is likely to recall some of the officers of Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) and Jammu and Kashmir Police Services (JKPS) from the Union Territory of Ladakh but will substitute them with others till a separate cadre is created for the neighbouring UT.
A senior IAS officer who has been sent to Jammu and Kashmir from New Delhi is being tipped for a prestigious post in the Union Territory of Ladakh to replace one of the longest serving officers.
The senior officer presently posted in Ladakh is likely to be repatriated to either Jammu and Kashmir or will be posted with the Central Government. A final decision is expected to be taken shortly.
“Some of the officers including IAS, JKAS and JKPS have been posted in the Union Territory of Ladakh since its formal creation on October 31, 2019 while few others have completed two years tenure,” sources said, adding the Government is considering the option to recall the officers.
However, it will have to replace them with new officers till the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) creates separate cadre for Ladakh.
An exercise to create separate cadre for Ladakh is yet to be finalized by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Only when the Union Territory gets Ladakh cadre, it will have its own officers like other States/UTs which are part of AGMUT, as well as UT level gazetted officers.
“Till then, the IAS/IPS/IFoS and JKAS/JKPS officers from Jammu and Kashmir will continue to feed Ladakh,” sources said.
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were part of erstwhile State of J&K but were bifurcated into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019 by the Central Government when special status of the State were also abrogated.
Presently, a number of senior IAS and IPS officers, who were part of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre, are holding posts in the Union Territory of Ladakh. A local IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre served the UT of Ladakh for quite some time before returning to his parent State. A female probationer IAS officer from Leh has also been posted in Ladakh. Barring one or two, there are hardly any senior Ladakhi officer holding top posts in the UT.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs have also been conducting an exercise for creation of separate cadre for Ladakh so that officers of All India Services can be deputed direct to the UT.
Already, some AIS officers have been deputed to Ladakh by the Home Ministry to overcome shortage of the officers.
Sources said the All India Services officers are reluctant to get posting in Ladakh due to harsh weather conditions and lack of adequate facilities as compared to Jammu and Kashmir and other States/Union Territories.
Some of the officers are posted in the Union Territory of Ladakh even before it was made the UT while others were deployed there soon after it was bifurcated from Jammu and Kashmir and made the UT on August 5, 2019 followed by formal creation on October 31, 2019.
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