Ladakh still facing acute shortage of manpower at various levels
*Segregation orders imperative for better HR management
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 30: Distribution of staff of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir between the newly constituted Union Territories will be completed by ending March this year keeping in view the immense difficulties being faced by Ladakh in managing several important positions particularly at the Head of the Department (HoD) level.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that distribution of assets and liabilities of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir between the two Union Territories has almost been completed as per the approval given by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
“However, the distribution of staff is still pending as a result of which the Union Territory of Ladakh is facing acute shortage of manpower at various levels”, sources informed, adding “till date only 19500 posts of various ranks have been given to the Ladakh UT but proper segregation of manpower has not been conducted by the UT of Jammu and Kashmir”.
They further said, “all those employees who have been sent to the Union Territory of Ladakh till date are actually on deputation and technically they are the employees of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”, adding “unless formal segregation orders are issued by the J&K Government the difficulties being faced by the Ladakh in managing its affairs are not going to overcome”.
According to the sources, the UT of Ladakh is facing acute shortage of manpower particularly in the Engineering Departments and at Head of the Department level. “The intensity of the prevailing situation can be gauged from the fact that even the Secretariat of Ladakh Union Territory doesn’t have sufficient manpower as a result of which its functioning is being managed with much difficulties”, they added.
Sources further informed that in the recent past the Government of J&K Union Territory was requested by the UT of Ladakh to provide manpower to fill up critical vacancies but only 175 officials were deputed but most of them were not suitable for critical posts. “The Ladakh UT is particularly facing shortage of Assistant Executive Engineers, Executive Engineers and HoD level officers as a result of which difficulties are being encountered in execution of developmental works for which there is limited time-frame due to the climatic conditions “, sources said.
“It would be only after proper distribution of staff between the two UTs that Ladakh will be able to chalk out strategy to fill-up vacancies out of 19500 sanctioned posts”, they said, adding “while as per the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, the District Level Boards headed by respective Deputy Commissioners can fill up the district cadre posts, for the divisional level and UT level posts a mechanism of recruitment is required to be worked out and exercise in this regard can be initiated only after completion of segregation of posts”.
They disclosed that issue of allocation of staff to the Union Territory of Ladakh recently came up for discussion in a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary of Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir BVR Subrahmanyam.
“The Chief Secretary of J&K UT has felt it imperative to complete the distribution of staff at the earliest so that both the UTs can focus on human resource management in the much better way”, sources said, adding “the Chief Secretary has directed the General Administration Department to prepare the proposal and submit the same for the orders of the competent authority for allocation of staff between two UTs in deference to the requirements of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019”.
Disclosing that entire exercise will be completed by March 31, 2021, sources said that a detailed exercise has been initiated in the General Administration Department in consultation with other departments of J&K UT. “Even the Ministry of Home Affairs has stressed that this vital exercise should be completed at the earliest so as to ensure smooth functioning of Union Territory of Ladakh”, they added.
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