Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 30: The Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) on cadre review of Administrative Services has mooted series of proposals to streamline the administration and give due share to the officers of Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) to address genuine complaints of the local Civil Services officials, which they had been highlighting for a long time.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the CSC headed by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, in a significant decision that would go long way in strengthening local cadre, has proposed 50:50 ratio for posting of the Deputy Commissioners in the State.
“If the proposal is cleared by the CSC and accepted by the Cabinet, at least 11 KAS officers would be entitled for posting as the Deputy Commissioners in 22 districts of the State,” sources said, adding the proposal was aimed at encouraging local officials in the civil administration, which was a long pending demand of the KAS officers.
The CSC is understood to have proposed that the IAS officers to be posted as the Deputy Commissioners should have minimum of 10 years experience. Presently, the IAS officers with just three to four years of experience are posted as the DCs.
It has proposed that the posts of Secretaries should be increased to accommodate more KAS officers.
In another proposal that would go long way in helping the KAS officers, the CSC was of the view that the KAS officers should be given posts of Head of Departments (HoDs) as per their cadre strength.
It has also suggested separate Administrative Secretaries for Hospitality and Protocol, Information and Tourism Departments to accommodate more officials.
The meeting was, however, inconclusive and in view of seriousness of proposals, the CSC would meet again to take up more suggestions and proposals before finalizing them to submit them to the Cabinet.
The CSC, which was constituted in August this year by the Cabinet following complaints by the KAS officers that they were getting raw deal in the civil administration, also discussed in detail the draft proposal to be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration to streamline the administration.
The CSC headed by Dr Nirmal Singh comprised Health and Medical Education Minister Lal Singh, Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu, Education Minister Naeem Akhter and Animal and Sheep Husbandry Minister Sajjad Gani Lone.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) on implementation of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction plan for Jammu and Kashmir also met here today under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh.
Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Minister for Finance, Dr Haseeb A Drabu and Minister for Irrigation and Flood Control, Chowdhary Sukhnandan Kumar were present at the meeting.
Chief Secretary, B R Sharma, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Commissioner/Secretary Finance, Naveen Kumar Choudhary, Secretary Revenue, Mohammad Afzal Bhat, Relief Commissioner Migrants and other senior officers were also present at the meeting.
The CSC has been constituted to make recommendations regarding implementation of rehabilitation package for settlement of families from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Chhamb, rehabilitation package for Jammu migrants and roadmap for additional jobs to 3000 Kashmiri migrants.
The committee discussed in detail the draft proposal to be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration and decided to meet again for making final recommendations.
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