Govt may order relaxation of rules to fill vacant positions
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 31: For the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, the Government is facing peculiar situation in filling the vacant posts of the Administrative Secretaries of different departments. This is because of deficit in IAS and KAS cadre, which has led to dearth of eligible officers to man these posts.
The posts of Administrative Secretaries of ARI, Trainings and Office Supplies Depart-ment, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Culture Department, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabili-tation and Reconstruction Department and Cooperative Department fell vacant today following superannuation of five IAS officers.
As per the rules, IAS officers of up to 2005 batch are currently eligible for the posts of Administrative Secretaries of these departments. However, at present the Government doesn’t have All India Service officers who fulfill this eligibility thereby leading to the peculiar situation.
Stating that deficit in the IAS and KAS cadre has led to the prevailing crisis, sources said, “before 2006 regular recruitment of IAS officers in respect of J&K cadre was very less and the same picked up momentum only after 2009. Moreover, during the period between 1996 and 2006, only few IAS officers made it to the J&K cadre”.
“During 1996, 1998 and 2000, no IAS officer was allotted J&K cadre which is one of the contributing factors to the dearth of eligible officers for the posts of Administrative Secretaries at present”, they added.
Similarly, there was no batch of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) during the period between 1984 and 1999, which is why there is a crisis of inducted KAS officers as well. “Had there been no deficit at this level, officers would have been available for manning the posts of Administrative Secretaries at present”, sources said.
“This is for the first time that the Government is facing such a peculiar situation and hectic deliberations are going on in the General Administration Department to find out the ways to overcome this crisis”, they informed while stating that the posts of Administrative Secretaries which have fallen vacant following superannuation of five officers cannot be kept unfilled for long time as the same will hamper the functioning of these departments. Moreover, manning these five posts by way of assigning charge to other officers would not be in the interest of administration.
“A consensus is being evolved on posting IAS officers of 2007, 2008 and 2009 batch as Secretaries of departments in major relaxation of rules as this is the only remedy available with the Government to overcome the prevailing crisis”, sources said while disclosing that an IAS officer of 2006 has already been posted as Secretary to the Government whereas an IAS officer of 2009 batch is holding the charge of Secretary to Government, Tourism Department.
“There are certain departments where posts of Administrative Secretaries cannot be kept vacant for long time keeping in view their importance”, sources said, adding “the problem of filling posts of Secretaries will further aggravate as in the coming months more IAS officers will attain superannuation”.
In case the Government decides to post IAS officers of 2007, 2008 and 2009 batches as Secretaries of departments it will have to carry out major reshuffle at different levels in the administration as the posts they are holding at present will also fall vacant, sources said, adding even Deputy Commissioners of some districts will have to be shifted.
The officers who attained superannuation today are Anal Kumar Gupta (Commissioner/ Secretary, ARI, Trainings and Stationary & Office Supplies Departments), Nirmal Sharma (Commissioner/Secretary, Depa-rtment of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj), Dilshad Khan (Commissioner/Secretary Culture Department), Shafiq Ahmed Raina (Commis-sioner/Secretary Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) and Bashir Ahmad Bhat (Secretary Cooperative Department).
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