There is a set procedure for regular promotions of Government employees in Jammu and Kashmir , decided primarily on the recommendations made by the Departmental Promotion Committees. For evaluating the suitability for promotions to the next cadre, grade, position and the like, these Committees must meet periodically for the said exercise to opine for such promotions to selection and non -selection posts as also to assess the work and conduct of probationers to recommend for their confirmation or ”regularisation” or to extend their period of probation or straightaway discharging them from the services . In short , a procedure, a mechanism and an arrangement is in place for effecting promotions , however, whether the procedure needs revamping and a change notwithstanding. It , therefore, can be denoted that such DPCs must be meeting to peruse, scan and assess each and every eligible employee’s case for such promotion which in the course of the hierarchy of going up the ladder has otherwise been duly established. Nothing short of a travesty it can be termed, that we need to raise a counter mechanism with powers to audit, inquire and appraise whether all Departmental Promotion Committees are really meeting periodically so as to keep the cycle of promotions in the system going to ward off dormancy and stagnation in the career of employees and hence departmental output and performancenot getting vastly impaired .If such an audit is really conducted, it will be fairly known that for years together these DPCs do not meet at all. It can also be deduced that if such a scenariowas persisting in respect of one or two departments only, that could be traced to department specific lapses. However, when it is a common practice with almost all UT Departments to not convene meetings of the DPCs, it could be on account of explicit instructions from the Government not to be very particular about the punctuality of such meetings to give recommendations about the promotions which could be due to imposition of a silent moratorium on promotions. That,in spite of recommendations of such Committees being not binding on the Government as being basically of advisory nature, it is astonishing as to why a feel is given that DPCs have turned redundant, superfluous or just optional. However, the question remains as to what about various departments where such promotions, apart from relating to employees’ career prospects, arerequired to run normally, effectively and without resorting to unproductive ad-hoc measures. For instance, Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, by having put on hold the meeting of the DPC for several months has resulted in hopes of decades for promotions by the employees concerned not fructifying into reality. The fact that the preliminary job of finalising of the requisite seniority list has resulted into not achieving of the desired objectives behind the exercise hence such a stance of the administration being witnessed is beyond comprehension. A number of 300 employees holding different designations and posts are sore about the conduct of the DPC and the administration. Why are promotions in the Sports Council pending for years? What is the adopted practice and procedure otherwise for such promotions which should be a routine function of every department. Are such tactics employed for manipulations etc to see that the favourite and blued eyed employees got promoted at the cost of the eligible and efficient ones?How can better performance be expected from the employees working in the same grade and position for years and facing monotony and tedium of the job instead of the pleasure as it is the human nature to abhor stagnancy and love change and newness. In the process, many employees retire too in the same grade, position and rank. If the DPCs are felt to be optional or of no import, it was better to adopt an alternative modeto effect promotions by open competitive written test followed by an interview which could be done under the auspices and authority of Staff Selection Board or any other agency where the said Board had professional autonomy and non-interference in its working by anyone from the UT Administration. In the absence of all such measures, resulting in an indifferent approach to the critical issue of promotions in Sports Council, how can promotion of sports be expected as there are not enough coaches available in the Council? A serious relook by the UT administration in the entire matter is required.
Follow our WhatsApp channel