Candidates in shock; several are overage now to apply afresh
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Feb 4: In a shocking development for tens of thousands of candidates, Government of Jammu & Kashmir has withdrawn all the posts referred to the Public Service Commission (JKPSC) and Services Selection Board (JKSSB) before October 31, 2019, for which selections have not been finalized till date.
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The General Administration Department has informed the PSC and SSB that the Administrative Council has decided to withdraw all the posts referred to PSC and SSB prior to 31- 10- 2019 for which selections have not been made till date.
“All posts referred to JKPSC/JKSSB prior to 31-10-2019, for which selections have not been finalized till date, as also the posts in which there are litigations and the cases are pending in Hon’ble court shall be deemed to have been withdrawn with immediate effect ,” read the communication No.GAD-MTG0RBIV/ 200/2021-09-GAD, dated 03-02-2022.
In the letter, the GAD has also directed all the concerned to implement this direction of the Administrative Council, vide Decision No:1/1/2022, dated 29-01-2022, in letter and spirit.
This bizzare decision of the Government has stunned tens of thousands of candidates in Jammu and Kashmir, who had applied for such posts, advertized by the Public Service Commission and Services Selection Board prior to October 31, 2019 for which the selections have not been finalized till date.
A number of these candidates are either at the threshold of overage or crossed the upper age limit for being eligible to apply afresh for the Government jobs. “The ultimate sufferer are the candidates even as we were not responsible for the delay in completion of the selection process by the recruitment agencies,” they said.
Official sources told the Excelsior that there are approximately 1500 posts of different categories and departments, advertized by the PSC and SSB before October 31, 2019, for which selections were under process and had not been finalized so far.
In some cases, even interviews have been conducted and the final selection lists were awaited while certain cases are pending in the court of law despite the final selection, sources added.
While elaborating, sources said that there are more than one thousand posts of different category, which were advertized by the J&K Service Selection Board prior to October 31,2019 for which the selection process was not finalized till date.
“These include posts of District and other categories for which tens of thousands of candidates have applied, a number of whom might be nearing the upper age limit or crossed the same thus becoming ineligible to apply afresh for the Government jobs” sources said.
In the Public Service Commission, there are around 470 Gazetted posts of various departments, advertized prior to October 31, 2019, which were in the process of selection.
“These include 25-30 posts for which even interviews have been conducted while more than 225 backlog posts were advertized and the selection process was going on under special drive,” sources said, adding that around 100 posts were awaiting Government clarification on confusion over eligibility criteria while final selection on almost a similar number of posts was pending because of the cases pending in the court of law.
When contacted, B R Sharma, Chairman J&K Public Service Commission, said that the PSC was compiling the number and details of such posts, which shall be shared with the Government.
Almost similar was the reply of J&K Service Selection Board Chairman, Khalid Jahangir, who said that the exercise in this regard would take some time and the Government will be informed about the same.
Even as there was no official word over the reason for such bizzarre decision, sources in Government circles said that the withdrawal of such posts was necessitated in view of the change in Reservation Rules, State Subject laws and the Constitutional position consequent to abrogation of the J&K special status on August 5, 2019.
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