‘Deptts asked to submit proposals as per defined practices’
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 19: Taking serious note of the departments’ failure to submit proposals as per the defined practices, Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta has issued directions for aligning Recruitment Rules with the functional requirements, revision of qualification criteria and factoring in of career progression so that no undue benefit is provided to any employee.
In the month of November last year, the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir constituted a committee for finalization of Recruitment Rules of different Gazetted and Non-Gazetted Services.
It was mentioned that headed by the Additional Chief Secretary (Financial Commissioner) Home Department, the committee shall inter-alia recommend changes, if any, required in the present process of finalizing Recruitment Rules.
However, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) has apprised the Chief Secretary about the difficulties being faced while considering Recruitment Rules revision proposals submitted by the departments, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “the chairman of the committee has further brought to the notice of the Chief Secretary that such proposals are not being submitted as per the defined practices and the departments need to undertake due diligence while formulating Recruitment Rules proposals.
Taking serious note of this, the Chief Secretary has directed that while revising the existing Recruitment Rules, the departments should align the Recruitment Rules with their functional requirements, sources said, adding “direction has also been issued for revising qualification criteria and keeping in consideration that a pyramid stricture is maintained and no Recruitment Rules revision proposals are formulated to give undue benefit to any employee”.
According to the sources, the Chief Secretary has further directed that the requirements of career progression should be factored in while formulating Recruitment Rule proposals.
Stating that process of seeking proposals for revision of Recruitment Rules was set into motion in the middle of last year, sources said, “the Recruitment Rules are required to be updated continuously so that they reflect the dynamic requirements of attracting the best talent for the advertised posts. Moreover, updated Recruitment Rules will address the issues of stagnation in all the departments”.
They further said, “the Recruitment Rules are required to be updated after every five years to examine the strength and composition of cadres and take necessary reviews but in respect of several departments this mandatory exercise was not conducted mainly because of non-serious approach of the previous Governments”, adding “in the absence of updated Recruitment Rules it becomes impossible to fill up the posts in some departments”.
“Moreover, in the absence of updated Recruitment Rules, the officials appointed in the departments cannot be promoted to the next higher posts and the posts created cannot be filled up also without any method of recruitment provided for the purpose”, sources said.
They further said, “in compelling circumstances, the departments usually opt for the incharge arrangements and this aspect has received sharp criticism from various quarters”, adding “it is only after the reorganization of erstwhile State into two Union Territories that serious attention has been paid towards updation/revision of the Recruitment Rules and present administration, under the directions of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, is leaving no stone unturned to complete the exercise in all the departments as early as possible”.
Meanwhile, for effective utilization of available human resources, the Chief Secretary has directed the General Administration Department to ensure that the manpower audit is completed by the end of February 2023.
In its edition dated January 11, 2023, EXCELSIOR had exclusively reported that the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has issued directions for early start of manpower audit in all the departments as similar exercise in respect of Secretariat Subordinate Service employees has yielded encouraging results in the context of effective utilization of available human resources.
Such an exercise is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of all human resource policies, procedures and activities performed by the individuals working in the departments.
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