Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 16: The Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) on Recruitment Policy today finally approved the draft, prepared after amendments by the General Administration and Law Departments making several changes in the original document that was approved by the Cabinet on April 18 but returned by Governor NN Vohra on April 25. The draft policy will now go to the Cabinet for approval after which it would be sent to the Governor for issuance of an Ordinance as the Legislature was not in session.
According to final draft approved by the CSC headed by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh this afternoon, the Selection Committees will have to complete entire process of appointments (adhoc/contractual) within a period of three months while the Appointing Authority will have to issue the appointment order within 15 days to serve the purpose of fast track recruitment.
The Public Services Commission (PSC), responsible for making appointments to the gazetted cadre including examination of Civil Services and Services Selection Recruitment Board (SSRB), will continue their routine job i.e. filling up the regular vacancies referred to them by the Government Departments. The fast track recruitment is in no way a substitute to the PSC or SSRB, which will operate as usual.
Official sources told the Excelsior that as per the final draft of New Recruitment Policy, the Government will set up two Selection Committees including State and Divisional Level Selection Committee and District Level Selection Committee for fast track recruitments in remote, far off and other areas, where huge vacancies have piled up.
The State and Divisional Level Selection Committee, responsible for making gazetted cadre recruitment, will be headed by a PSC member, who will serve as Chairman of the Committee. The second member will be the subject expert or co-opted member. The PSC member to the Committee will be nominated by the PSC Chairman.
The District Level Selection Committee will be headed by a SSRB member to be nominated by the SSRB chairperson. It will have two more members including district head of the indenting office (i.e. the office to whom the vacancy pertained) and one Deputy Secretary or above. In the original policy, the Deputy Commissioners were to head the District Level Committees but the CSC has changed the provision.
The employees recruited on adhoc/contractual basis will get basic pay plus grade pay as emoluments of the post against which they would be engaged while they will be entitled to Dearness Allowance, Increments, House Rent Allowance and City Compensatory Allowance only after regularization of their services after five years.
“Under no circumstances, the employees engaged on adhoc/contract basis will be transferred from their place of posting till they are regularized. They will have to servc in the district and the place, where they are engaged as adhoc/contractual employees,” sources said.
The CSC has done away with the previous provision of the policy under which the candidates engaged from RBA and LoC categories had to serve in their areas for seven years while others had to work in the areas for five years. “The discriminatory provision has gone. Now all the employees will have to serve in their areas for five years only. After regularization, they will be entitled to transfers like any other employee,” sources said.
The CSC has reduced the period of regularization of adhoc/contractual employees from seven to five years.
The Mode of Selection by both the Committees will be merit and interview. There will be no written test. The Committees will have to complete entire selection process within a period of three months keeping 20 per cent candidates in the waiting list. The Committees will refer the selection list to Appointing Authorities of the Departments, which would have referred the post to them. The Appointing Authorities will have to issue the appointment order to the individual within 15 days after receiving the selection list.
“The reservations to all adhoc/contractual appointments will be applicable as per the Reservations Act and in the provisions of normal recruitments made by the PSC and SSRB. The reservations will also be applicable to inter-district recruitment,” sources said.
They added that regularization of adhoc/contractual employees after five years will be made as per the Civil Services Rules.
Asserting the fast track recruitment is a mechanism, sources said it will be done away with once the entire backlog of bulk vacancies is filled up and the Government didn’t feel need of fast track recruitments.
This was fourth meeting of the CSC in which the draft policy has been finalized. It had met on June 1, 11 and 15.
The CSC comprised Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh (Chairman), Health and Medical Education Minister Choudhary Lal Singh, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sukhnandan Kumar, all BJP, Education Minister Naeem Akhter, Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basharat Bukhari and Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, all PDP.
Governor NN Vohra had returned the Recruitment Policy to the Government on April 25 within a week of its approval by the Cabinet seeking clarifications on certain controversial clauses.
The Policy had been introduced in the form of Jammu and Kashmir Special Recruitment Ordinance 2015.
The Government feels that it wouldn’t face any problems in getting mandatory nod of the Legislature for the Ordinance once it was approved by the Governor as it has majority in both the Houses. The Ordinance required Legislature nod within six months of its issuance by the Governor. While PDP-BJP coalition Government has two-third majority in the Assembly, it has simple majority in the Council. Only simple majority was required to make law for the Recruitment Policy. All opposition parties and Independent MLAs were likely to oppose the Policy whenever it was brought in the Legislature.
Though the Legislature was in session till April 10 (Assembly till April 9 and Council till April 10), the Government didn’t introduce the Policy in form of the bill but brought it before the Cabinet on April 19 and forwarded it to the Governor for issuance of an Ordinance. Worthwhile to mention here that the Ordinance is issued only if the Legislature is not in session but it required approval of the Legislature within six months of the issuance.
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