Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 1: Over 250 writ petitions were filed last year against the selections made by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission and Services Selection Board. However, final decision in respect of majority of such cases has yet not been taken by the High Court.
This was revealed by the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is also Minister Incharge General Administration Department, in a written reply to the question of BJP MLA from Nowshera Ravinder Raina, in the Legislative Assembly.
“Recently, 132 and 121 writ petitions/appeals have been filed in the High Court whereby the selections made by the PSC and SSB respectively have been challenged”, the Chief Minister said. However, the information provided by General Administration Department clearly established that final decision in respect of majority of the cases has yet not been taken by the High Court.
Such a large number of writ petitions/appeals against the selections made by the PSC and SSB has established that people have lost faith in the functioning of these recruiting agencies.
Notwithstanding the demand from various quarters, the Chief Minister ruled out establishment of separate recruiting agencies for the two regions of the State. “There is no such proposal with the Government”, she categorically mentioned in the reply.
However, she said that recruitments in Government departments are made by the recruiting agencies purely on the basis of performance/merit acquired by the candidates in written tests, viva voice etc and without any regional consideration.
Claiming that several steps have been taken to ensure transparency in the recruitment system, she said that filing of online application forms has been introduced by both the recruiting agencies. “Like the recruiting agencies across the country, PSC has adopted the procedure to constitute more than one board on daily basis for conducting interview in accordance with the strength of candidates”, she added.
To streamline the selection process, some amendments in the rules governing the selection process have also been made to the extent that the subject matter experts have independent role to assess the candidates on the basis of their abilities, the Chief Minister said, adding written tests have been introduced for all the direct recruitment posts except faculty of Medical Colleges and Assistant Professors where rules have been framed as per MCI and UGC guidelines/regulations to avoid disparity in assignment of marks by various institutions within and outside the State.
Provision of candidate’s copy of OMR sheet, online computer based recruitment tests and one time registration of candidates have also been introduced by the Public Service Commission, the Minister Incharge General Administration Department said.
The Chief Minister further said that online receipt of application forms and fees, dispensing with interview on pilot basis, conduct of computer based written exam, introduction of biometric capturing for attendance to deal with impersonation, conduct of physical tests on the pattern of TRP and sharing answer keys after the examination and inviting objections thereupon are the major steps initiated by the Services Selection Board.
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