Govt scraps order; new staff to get full pay, transfer option

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chairing the AC meeting in Srinagar on Sunday.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chairing the AC meeting in Srinagar on Sunday.

Nearly 15,000 to benefit

*DDC members’ kin to get ex-gratia

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 14: In an Independence Day gift, the Jammu and Kashmir Government today scrapped a 2015 order, further modified in June 2020, under which newly recruited Government employees were given partial wages for five years, which were subsequently reduced to two years, and brought them at par with regular employees with DA, allowances and all other benefits.
Nearly 15,000 employees will be benefitted by the Government order which was approved by the Administrative Council (AC) today chaired by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in Srinagar.
Besides being paid just basic pay, the newly recruited Government employees also had to serve at one place for five years as they were not eligible for transfers during this period of their posting.
Official sources told the Excelsior that all Government employees including the migrants recruited under Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) will now get full salary including basic pay, DA, allowances and all other benefits.
Initially, the then Government in 2015 (PDP-BJP) had started recruitment of the employees under the new Rules in which they were entitled to just basic pay and Medical Allowance for five years and were denied DA, HRA, CCA, and other benefits.
Following uproar by recruits, political parties and various other organizations, the then Governor in 2020 had reduced five year clause to two years.
However, the present Government headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has completely done away with the rules and brought all employees at par which means they will get basic pay and all other allowances and benefits which they, otherwise, had to get after two years of service.
Further, the employees had to be posted at one place for first five years on probation. With the rules scrapped, they can now be transferred after two or three years as per the transfer policy of the Government.
An official statement said: “The Administrative Council (AC) which met in Srinagar under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir Probationer (Condition of Service, Pay and Allowances) and Fixation Rules, 2020, notified vide S.O. 192 of 2020 (successor of S.O. 202 of 2015); with effect from 1st of August, 2022.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K and Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.
“The decision will bring all Government employees being appointed in the Union Territory of J&K on an equal footing with their earlier appointed counterparts who may be occupying the same/comparable posts in the cadre,” the statement said.
Further, it added, a significant number of grievances from the newly appointed employees and in-service candidates who apply for higher posts but are not given pay protection, will also be alleviated.
Earlier, the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee (ECSC) headed by the Chief Secretary had found these rules to be discriminatory in nature facing several impediments in their implementation, and had recommended their scrapping.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Council also approved the extension of ex-gratia relief of Rs 25 lakhs to kin of all Chairpersons, Vice-Chairpersons and members of District Development Councils in case of death due to a militancy-related incident.
Earlier, the Government has provided similar relief for all elected BDC chairmen, Sarpanches, Panches and all elected members of Municipal Bodies of Jammu and Kashmir.
The decision is aimed at strengthening the grassroots democracy by providing a sense of security to the elected members of Local Bodies facing threat from anti-State elements.
“The ex-gratia relief will act as a guarantee for the subsistence of the family members of the elected representatives who are killed in militancy-related incidents,” the statement said.