Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 17: The highly qualified Agriculture Extension Assistants have alleged that they have been denied justice by the higher authorities in the department.
In a representation to the Lt Governor and the Administrative Secretary, these aggrieved officers have alleged that the Department of Agriculture, Jammu released the final seniority list of Agriculture Extension Assistants (AEAs), vide Order No. Agri/DAJ/Estt-128-II (AEA)/2019/11103-18 dated 28-01-2019, in which highly qualified candidates were not placed at their appropriate positions, thereby, depriving them of their legitimate seniority. The then Director of Agriculture, Jammu, HK Razdan, ignored the higher education (Ph. D. in Agriculture) and academic merit while framing the seniority list, thereby, playing with their professional carrier.
The list was prepared and released without mentioning educational qualifications and academic merit of the candidates. It is a clear indicative of the malafide intension of the authorities at the helm of affairs to deliberately hide such an important information which is the primary basis of deciding the seniority in any department. AEAs are haphazardly placed in the seniority list, creating a state of utter confusion and chaos, for the reasons best known to the people at helm of affairs.
Agriculture graduates were registered under REZ scheme of the Department of Agriculture, J&K in 2007 and subsequently regularized as AEAs in three phases during the year 2014, 2015 and 2016. The regularization in three phases was also done in a haphazard manner by the then Director Agriculture, Dr SS Jamwal, ignoring the higher qualification and academic merit of the candidates. Despite of several representations made by highly qualified candidates to Director Agriculture, Jammu and Commissioner Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Govt of J&K, nothing was done in this regard. Even the court directive is not being honoured by some senior officials.
They alleged that Department of Agriculture has created such circumstances in which a common man will lose faith in constitutional institutions and Government system. The seniority list has not only killed the spirit of hardworking intelligent agriculture technocrats to acquire knowledge pursuing higher education but left them suffering in a state of distress as these candidates are being given a step motherly treatment.