*JKSSB awaits requisite information from GAD
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 4: The much-needed replacement of interview system for the recruitment to the non-gazetted posts with the written tests has failed to become reality in Jammu and Kashmir despite issuance of formal notifications by the State Government mainly because of the administrative lethargy. As majority of the Administrative Secretaries have yet not shown seriousness towards the issue, the Services Selection Board has been left with no other option but to watch the situation with crossed fingers.
The initiative of discontinuing interview system for the recruitment to the junior level posts and making selection purely on the basis of written test/academic merit was taken by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in the month of August last year on the ground that sometimes candidates in high on merit list are rejected in the interviews. Moreover, the objective behind this step was to check the chances of corruption in the selections.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister asked all the State Governments to avoid practice of interviews for junior level posts. Following this decision, the Union Minister of State in PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh sent a number of communications to all the States including Jammu and Kashmir requesting them to take a lead in carrying forward this initiative.
Following intense pressure from the Union Government and wide-spread appreciation of the initiative, the State Government in the month of December last year decided to replace the interview system with the written test. Accordingly, detailed notifications were issued by the Commissioner/ Secretary to Government, General Administration Department, Gazzanfer Hussain elaborating the amendments to be made in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment) Rules, 2010.
Through these notifications dated December 11, 2015, it was made mandatory for the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board to conduct written test for all the non-gazetted posts to be referred to it by various departments.
However, despite lapse of nine months, majority of the departments have yet not finalized the lists of junior level posts for which interview system for recruitment has to be discontinued and selection is to be made purely on the basis of written test/academic merit, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
They informed during the past nine months only six departments have furnished the requisite information to the General Administration Department for onward submission to the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board while as Administrative Secretaries of other departments have yet not shown any seriousness towards the issue.
“During the past nine months, the directions about furnishing of list of junior level posts to the General Administration Department were issued to the Administrative Secretaries a number of times during the meetings of Committee of Secretaries but it seems that the Secretaries don’t have time to get the information from the concerned officers of their respective departments”, sources regretted.
It is pertinent to mention here that all the departments are required to identify the posts and then forward the lists to the GAD, which has been authorized to forward the same to the SSB along with certain fresh instructions if any.
Stating that Services Selection Board is awaiting for the lists to carry forward the recruitment process particularly for those 30,000 posts, which are required to be filled on fast track basis, sources said, “the Board has completed all the formalities to follow the new pattern and it has even studied the process being adopted at the Central level by deputing its officers”, adding “at present the Board is only busy in clearing the backlog of the posts which were referred to it prior to the issuance of notifications dated December 11, 2015”.
Keeping in view the dilly-dallying approach on the part of majority of the departments, the Chief Secretary has recently fixed time-frame for furnishing of list of junior level posts to the General Administration Department, sources informed. “It is a matter of serious concern that even the elected representatives of the people particularly the Ministers have failed to exert any pressure on the heads of their respective departments for furnishing of list of junior level posts in prompt manner”, they added.
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