Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 27: Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC), which has been rendered defunct due to tug-of-war between the coalition partners over the posting of their choicest persons as its Chairman and Members, has not only affected the routine functioning of the Commission but also stalled the appointment of 99 KAS officers.
The process for the appointment of such a large number of KAS officers, which was set into motion more than a year back, is hanging in balance during the past three months and will continue till the new Government is formed next year.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that General Administration Department Vide Communication No. GAD (Ser) (Genl)/146/2012 dated May 23, 2013 referred 99 posts to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission to be filled up through the Combined Competitive Examination-2013.
These posts were advertized by the Commission vide Notification No.PSC/Exm/ 2013/47 dated June 5, 2013 and in response to the advertisement, 25,006 application forms were received. Thereafter, preliminary examination was conducted on September 29, 2013 in which 20,236 candidates appeared and as per the criteria fixed by the Commission, 2477 candidates were declared qualified for the main examination vide Notification No.PSC/EX-14/39 dated May 19, 2014.
In the main examination conducted from March 1, 2014 to April 3, 2014 both at Jammu and Srinagar, 1969 candidates appeared in all the papers and as per the criteria fixed by the Commission in accordance with the rules, 341 candidates were declared to have qualified for interview. Following interview, 99 candidates were selected in order of their aggregate merit in the written as well as interview and the list was issued on August 1, 2014.
Accordingly, they were directed to report to the respective Medical Boards for conduct of medical examination in accordance with rules.
Though the Medical Board in the Government Medical College, Jammu timely completed the task and submitted the report to the Public Service Commission, the process in respect of candidates belonging to Kashmir valley could not be completed by the Government Medical College, Srinagar for unknown reasons, sources said.
The medical report in respect of candidates belonging to Kashmir valley was submitted following improvement in the situation erupted due to floods and by that time S L Bhat had completed his term as Chairman of the PSC thereby stalling the further process, sources said. “Instead of appointing only member of the Commission as Acting Chairman in order to facilitate the completion of process regarding appointment of KAS officers, the coalition partners remained busy in making choice of incumbents for the posts of the PSC”, they added.
The exercise for appointment of 99 KAS officers, which Government could have easily completed in the month of August, suffered further setback when Governor in the month of October raised objections over the names recommended by the Government for the PSC posts. “Had the Government shun the practice of making PSC posts rehabilitation centre for the choicest persons, the prevailing situation could have been avoided as posts of PSC continued to fall vacant one after another during the past several years”, sources said.
In response to a question, they said that as per the rules, only Chairman of the PSC can allot the departments to the selected candidates on the basis of set procedure before making recommendations to the Government as such the requirement of 99 KAS officers, which was felt by the General Administration Department more than one year, would be met only after formation of new Government in January next year.
“The new Chairman of PSC would also take some time in making recommendations to the new Government as discrepancies vis-à-vis documents have also come to the fore in respect of some selected candidates”, sources informed.
“It is hoped that new dispensation would put a full stop on the practice of making PSC posts rehabilitation centre and consider persons of integrity, honesty and repute for the posts of Chairman and Members of this constitutional body authorized with selections of Gazetted Officers”, sources said.
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