Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 18: In a major lapse on the part of State Government, thousands of women Government job seekers have suffered immensely during the past eight months as their application forms for the jobs in different departments were rejected by the recruiting agencies for being unaware about the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Amendment Act, 2013.
Interestingly, several members of the Council of Ministers were also unaware of the Amendment Act and SRO issued by the Law Department till date and came to know about this legal provision only when the Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand vociferously raised the issue in the Cabinet meeting held here this morning.
The amendment in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Act, 2010 was necessitated after much hue and cry was raised over Section 13, which states that a person shall be deemed to be resident of a particular district or division if he/she has resided in such district or division for a period of not less than 15 years before the date of applying for a particular post and is actually residing in the said area.
As Section 13 was depriving the women from applying for the Government jobs after inter-district marriage, it became a debate within and outside the State Legislature with the people terming the provision as anti-women. Even a Public Interest Litigation was filed before the State High Court stating that minimum residence of 15 years applies harshly in respect of female folk who marry outside their district/division. The PIL was disposed of on March 13, 2012 with the Division Bench of the High Court directing the Government to treat PIL as representation for according consideration.
In order to settle the issue, the Government in the month of April this year carried out amendment in the J&K Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Act, 2010 by incorporating Sub-Section 4 to Section 13 whereby the bar of 15 years was lifted in case of women folk marrying outside their district. Accordingly, Law Department issued a circular for compliance by the recruiting agencies.
Interestingly, the recruiting agencies remained ignorant about the new provisions of law during the past eight months and continued to reject the application forms on the basis of Act of 2010 thereby depriving around 10,000 women (as per preliminary estimates) of their right to Government job. The women having RBA and Actual Line of Control (ALC) certificates prior to their marriage remained the worst sufferer as several Government agencies were not issuing fresh certificates for being ignorant about the new provisions of law.
The issue figured in the Cabinet meeting today with the Deputy Chief Minister stating that women folk was being subjected to discrimination even after amendment in the Act because several agencies of the Government were completely ignorant about the latest provisions of the law, sources said.
“When enquired on the directions of the Chief Minister it came to fore that recruiting agencies have rejected large number of application forms of the women folk for the Government job as they were not circulated the copies of the SRO issued by the Law Department”, sources said. Accordingly, the Cabinet issued instructions for giving wide publicity to the latest provisions of the law. However, no decision was taken as to what would be the fate of those Government job aspirants whose application forms were rejected in the light of Act of 2010, they added.
Sources informed that Deputy Chief Minister also demanded that people residing all along the International Border in Jammu be given RBA status as due to skirmishes on the border they were facing immense difficulties. He further demanded that any person who is killed or injured on the border in firing from the other side be given compensation on the analogy of the compensation being provided to the militancy affected families.
According to the sources, Chief Minister, while considering the demands of the Deputy Chief Minister, directed the concerned departments to come up with the formal proposals.
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