Govt abolishes interview for Level 5 posts, to give weightage to marginalized sections

The administrative council has approved a simple and efficient procedure for filling up of class IV vacancies. In the first phase over 10,000 vacancies identified: Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power and Information, J&K

AC decides to give age relaxation to some sections
*No documents including domicile required while applying

Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, May 28: In a major decision aimed at curbing favouritism in the Government jobs, the Union Territory Government today ordered abolition of interview (Oral test) for the posts up to and including Pay Level 5 and announced extra weightage and relaxation in upper age limit for certain marginalized categories in recruitment to Class-IV vacancies.
The Government also announced that the Domicile Certificate and other documents will not be sought by the recruitment agencies at the time of inviting applications for the posts.
Decisions to this effect were taken by the Administrative Council in its meeting under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu. Click here to watch video
Briefing about the decisions at a press conference, Government spokesman and Principal Secretary Power Development Department (PDD) Rohit Kansal said a high-level Committee set up for Accelerated Recruitment has identified 7052 vacancies in various Government departments for Class-IV posts at UT, division and district levels.
“The posts will be filled-up through special recruitment drive and special rules which will address deficiencies and shortcomings in the previous rules,” Kansal said, adding the posts will be filled-up with timeline of one year.
There will be only written tests for the post and no interview, the Government spokesman said.
The Government has also done away with the interview for 2000 posts of Panchayat Accounts Assistants which will also be filled on merit basis determined by written test only.
Immediately after the press conference, the General Administration Department (GAD) of the UT Government came out with an order which said the Lieutenant Governor under Article 309 of the Constitution of India had directed that there shall be no oral test for posts up to and including Pay Level 5 (Rs 29200-92300) and selection for such posts will be made on the basis of written test only with further stipulation that trade test/skill test wherever prescribed shall continued to be held as per the relevant recruitment rules.
“The notification will also apply to such of the selections undertaken by the recruiting agency where the written test hasn’t been conducted on the date of publication of this notification,” the GAD order said.
Kansal said marginalized sections including widows, divorced and judicially separated women, orphan girls, persons having no family member in Government service, daily rated and similarly engaged workers will get weightage of five marks in the selections which will be made out of a total of 100 marks.
The daily rated workers will also get upper age relaxation of five years in the recruitment of Class-IV posts, he added.
In a major relief for the aspirants, the Government spokesman announced that no documents including the Domicile Certificate will be required for submission with the application while applying for the jobs.
To a question whether the recruitments will be held under SRO 202, Kansal said the Rules are being notified and everything will be defined in them including the categories which will get weightage and relaxation in upper age limit. “Everything will be clear in the Rules,” he added.
However, he asserted that if an aspirant falls in two categories of weightage, he/she will get double extra marks.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Council has also given a go ahead to the recruitment of 2000 Panchayat Accounts Assistants.
“The decision of the Administrative Council will strengthen functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions. The recruitment to these posts will be restricted to domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir and will be made in accordance with relevant Recruitment Rules,” an official statement said.
It added that the selection will be made through Services Selection Recruitment Board (SSRB) on the basis of merit determined through a written test only. There will be no interviews in the recruitment process to these posts of Panchayat Accounts Assistants.
“With enhancement in responsibilities of Panchayats and significant increase in devolution of funds to the local Government bodies, posting of the Panchayat Accounts Assistants will help in proper maintenance of accounts and booking of expenditure in Panchayats,” the statement said.
Kansal, meanwhile, stated that the procedure and Rules for domicile certificate had already been notified under the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020 and added that the Rules prescribe very simple and time bound procedure for issuance of domicile certificates.
“The Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) holders will be eligible for domicile certificate on the basis of their PRCs alone and no other document will be required in their case. Kashmiri migrants too can get the domicile certificate on production of either a PRC or certificate of registration as a migrant. A special limited provision has also been made for bonafide migrants and bonafide displaced persons who may not have registered so far,” he said.
He added that the certificates shall be issued expeditiously and there shall be a timeline of 15 days for issuance of the certificate after which the applicant shall be free to approach the Appellate Authority.
“There are provisions for penalties and revisional powers. The Rules also have a provision that applications for grant of Domicile Certificate can be submitted either physically or electronically online. The Competent Authority can also issue domicile certificate(s) electronically. The procedure has an inbuilt mechanism to ensure speed and transparency and no one needs to have any apprehensions on this count,” Kansal asserted.