*Even in-charge District Officers, Deputy Directors retire as Masters
Rajesh Dhar
JAMMU, June 1: Looks strange! But it is true that the in-charge District Officers, Assistant Directors and even Deputy Directors, working in the Department of Youth Services and Sports have been and are retiring as Physical Education Masters-courtesy non implementation of the newly framed ‘Rules’ of the Department.
Sources said that the Department of Youth Services and Sports since its inception and independent status in 1973, had been working rather functioning under the rules and regulations of its parent organization, the Department of Education, adding that the DYSS after its re-organization in the year 2006 made series of endeavours and succeeded in establishing its own rules in 2015, but is yet to implement the same in letter and spirit, leaving a big number of DYSS employees in the lurch.
Sources further said that apart from the creation of posts in the Central Secretariat of the Department like Joint Directors and Deputy Directors, maiden posts of 386 Physical Education Lecturers (PELs) and 199 Zonal Physical Education Officers (ZPEOs) were created in the Department vide Govt Order No-140-Tech-Edu of 2006 dated 13-11-2006. However, both these cadres are receiving an indifferent treatment because of the non implementation of the ‘Rules’ of the Department.
Sources close to the Central Secretariat of the Department said that the Physical Education Teachers and Physical Education Masters have been drawing the salary at par with the Teachers and Masters of the Education Department, adding that the Physical Education Lecturers have been receiving a curt treatment with regard to their confirmation and Pay Scale despite clear-cut directions by the High Court vide No-14163 dated 31-08-2012.
“How humiliating is it that among a total of 59 subjects (few inducted even after Physical Education) in the educational curriculum, the Lecturers of all these subjects, except Physical Education have same pay and grade, despite the fact that Teachers and Masters of both the Departments are at par as far as their Pay Scale is concerned. In-spite of the fact that the concerned authorities have admitted that it has been a typing error, the Grade of Physical Education Lecturers is yet to be cleared,” said an Officer of the Department while expressing anonymity.
He said as per SRO 225 dated 18-08-2005 of the Finance Department, all the subject Lecturers have been placed in the Pay Scale of 9300-34800 Plus Grade Pay 5400 (revised), however, the Physical Education Lecturers are the only exception.
“Though all the Physical Education Lecturers are drawing the salary at par with the Pay Scale of other Lecturers as per the Court directions, but their Grade is yet to be officially cleared by the Finance Department despite the fact that its clearance would hardly have any effect on Government Exchequer,” said General Secretary of the Physical Education Lecturers Forum while expressing anguish over the delay by the concerned authorities in removing their pay disparity.
Sources said that Education Department, on the one hand, had prepared a seniority list of 1500 lecturers and will be confirming the same very soon, while, on the other hand, the Department of Youth Services and Sports, has yet to release a seniority list of just 120 Physical Education Lecturers, despite the lapse of around 10 years after their promotion in 2008.
Sources further revealed that the Department had scrutinized and verified the documents of Lecturers more than four times since their promotion, but, for unknown reasons, is still not in a position to prepare the seniority list for their confirmation, adding that the Committees framed by the Department to scrutinize the documents of Postgraduates, hardly comprised of any member having Postgraduate degree.
“How can you justify fair preparation of the seniority list of the Physical Education Lecturers (Postgraduates) by the members who themselves are not Postgraduates. For that matter, constitution of Committee by the Department to scrutinize the documents of Postgraduates invites criticism. Rather, the constitution of such committees puts a question mark on the functioning of the Administrative block of the Department,” said a Physical Education Lecturer while giving vent to his feelings.
Sources said that what was more astonishing rather humiliating was that the in-charge District Sports Officers, Assistant Directors and even Deputy Directors have been retiring and have retired as Physical Education Masters in the Department, adding that despite repeated requests and reminders, Government is not taking any serious measures to solve this long pending problem by confirming all the cadres in a systematic manner.
According to reliable sources, around 15 Posts of District Youth Services and Sports Officers are vacant in the Department and are only being run by giving additional charges to the ‘blue-eyed’ rather than confirming the existing cadres and promoting them to fill the vacancies.
It is pertinent to mention here that all those States which have a good name and fame in the field of sports, have introduced Physical Education as subject at the primary level for better results and the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which is striving hard to carve a space on the Country’s sports map, is facing problems in running Physical Education as subject at Plus-2 Level because of the non implementation of the Departmental Rules.
For helping the State sportspersons to flourish at the national scene, the introduction of Physical Education as subject at the primary level is the need of the hour.
State Government needs to solve the issue at an earliest.
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