Showkat Ahmad Wani
It was a pleasant day of 31st March 2013 , as I was preparing for school that I received a call from my brother working in Civil Secretariat Jammu, congratulating me for I was among others, who had been promoted as In-charge lecturers in political science and other subjects by the department of school education. Since the orders had been published in many newspapers, so congratulatory wishes, greetings through messages and calls started pouring in. I was also feeling excited and remained busy for weeks responding to congratulatory wishes of people. Complying with directions, joined at DSEK and after a few days was adjusted at a newly upgraded higher secondary school, a few kilometers from my residence. The promotion infused new vigour , vitality and strength in me and I found myself working with more zest and zeal. Clearly speaking till that time I myself did not know what was an In-charge. I started discussing with people about the in-charge tag that was prefixed to me and it dawned upon me that it was only a tag ,change of assignment and real promotion would be when I would be confirmed/ regularized as lecturer. This made me to once again minutely read my promotion order and was a bit relaxed as it had clearly written that within a period of six months, DPC will be held and services confirmed. I thought six months is a short period and started to live in illusion that after six months I may get regularized and will get the benefits for the new assignment. Social status in the society changed , expectations from the family enhanced, genuine demands of my kids were different because their father had now ventured into gazetted cadre. Family ration card was ist causality, were told that since one family member had become gazetted officer , was better for us to get ration from open market.
Thereafter additional assignments started coming my way, additional duties in general census / economic census , examination assignments, monitoring duties , magistrate duties at times ,everything like my confirmed lecturer brothers but what did not come my way was my confirmation/ regularization of services. I was teaching higher classes satisfactorily and there was accountability for results equal to my confirmed counterparts but the only difference was the tag of in-charge that had been prefixed with my designation. Six months passed, years passed but the tag remained there prefixed with my designation. With the period of time, many of my colleagues, retired as In-charge Headmasters, In-charge lecturers , In-charge Zonal Education Officers, In-charge Principals and was dumbstruck to learn that their pensions were being settled in the grades prior to their promotion as In-charge, for they had not been confirmed in promoted grades from years together. I also learnt that many of the already retired in-charges have even expired and their families also get pensions in grades prior to In-charge promotion of their expired beloved ones. In the heart of hearts I was thinking why these people are denied their deserving and legitimate rights. Days passed and after two years in the year 2015, I along with my fellow in-charges were jubilant as we came across a notification of education department where by all In-charges of all cadres were advised to submit documents, for department was then contemplating to confirm and regularize their services. Readily obliging and complying with directions all In-charges submitted all requisite papers and waited for months and years for any good news which eluded them continuously. In-charges continued retiring without benefits and list of expiring ones also kept increasing.
After three years in February 2018, the then State Cabinet after realizing the gravity of this human issue , ordered one time exemption to education department to clear the regularization cases of all cadres ,High Powered Committee (DPC) was constituted to settle this issue, once for all. As the ill luck would have it, nothing happened for next one year although, in-charges of all cadres working or retired were approaching all concerned authorities for confirming /regularizing their services, because on their part every document was submitted and every formality completed. We again found ourselves in despair and desolation, our hopes started dwindling and diminishing again because the needful was not being done for anonymous reasons. Thereafter joy of in-charge cadres knew no bounds ,aspirations regenerated, when in January 2019, then State Administrative Council (SAC) ,for settling this human issue and for clearing backlog of confirmation of round about ten thousand in-charge officers, once again ordered one time exemption to the education department along with constitution of high powered committee. Even this SAC decision did not come to our rescue, months passed, in-charges continued representing before authorities that be, but nothing substantial was happening. However finally in July 2019 a meeting of High Powered Committee was held in which cases of a few hundred In-charges were cleared and granted confirmation while thousands left out are still waiting ,moving from pillar to post, knocking doors of all concerned for the much awaited DPC, which is not being convened. During all these years many times, department was consolidating personal data of lecturers, presuming that I am also one among them ,I tried to submit my particulars also , but was made to understand that I was not a lecturer but an In-charge only and could not be included. Questions aroused in my mind, If I was not a lecturer then what I was. Although I was doing every assignment equal to my lecturer brothers then why I was not considered equal to them. I thought then I may be still a master grade in the department norms. I approached authorities to grant me time bound promotion in master grade for I had completed required 9 years from my promotion in master grade. Here I was rebuked again and told I was not a master also. I was in a dilemma, when I was not a master; I was not a lecturer then what I was. During the last seven years hopes of in-charge cadres were sky high at one time and dusted to ground the next moment. Many have become hopeless now. Why are not the officers at the helm moved by the plight of those old aged persons who have served the department honestly with dedication and instead of providing them comfort and respect they deserve , they are being made to run from one office to another for their due and deserving rights. The plight of retirees is always haunting everyone, who comes across the fact of settlement of pension of an in-charge retiree in previous grade. No doubt the society at large does not know we were in-charges but after retirement all this social status is gone and what one needs is sustenance through pension and the enhanced one ,which is due to them, which is their right ,would have been helpful and added advantage to them in the times of distress, ailing health, and dire need.
Recently the taking over as principal secretary school education department by Mr Asgar Hussain Samoon, whose track record as an administrator is widely acclaimed, whose administrative acumen , judgment ,deliverance and disposal is known to one and all , has infused a new hope in the In-charge fraternity. The In-charges working in OPG from years together have firm belief and hope that the new head of the department will settle all the grave issues lingering in the department for years. Our plight may also now get attention and bottle necks will be cleared , accountability fixed , and the issue will be settled once for all so that at least after seven years the tag of in-charge prefixed to me and thousands others is removed.
(The author is I/c Lecturer Political Science HSS D.H.Pora Kulgam)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel