Showkat Wani
A person working in school education in his /her service period after a decade or so as per seniority , eligibility, availability of vacancy is promoted /placed to next higher position in his own pay and grade with some meagre charge allowance lately charge allowance has not been allowed. He gets a special tag of in-charge and the said tag sticks to him in such a way that it does not leave him till his retirement and goes with him to his grave also. When such official /officer retires , his/her pension gets settled in the grade prior to his in-charge promotion and when he poses questions to the concerned, he is silenced with the reply that you were an in-charge and have not been confirmed by the department. Braving optimism, he/she lives in the illusion that someday the department which had conferred upon him this title and tag , had sent him to far off places with this title and he/she had done his best to deliver upon the expectations of his/her superiors , was made accountable for every assignment as in -charge , will recognise his service in promoted grade and he will get his pensionary benefits which are his due, legitimate and deserving rights. In the year 2017 such retired in-charge officers of school education got a new lease of life when they learnt that education department has started exercise of collection of data of all in-charge officers for considering their regularisation in promoted grades. Like other working in- charge officers they were also asked to submit papers. In the old age, when their physique was fragile, their health condition had many underlying ailments , they also moved from place to place to get their various documents and submitted them. Their joy knew no bounds in year 2018 when they came to know that , the then State Government after realising that huge backlog of such in-charge officers had accumulated in education department from year 2009 onwards, has decided to grant education department, one time exemption to consider regularisation cases of all such in-charge officers through a Departmental Promotion Committee.
The joy did not last long, nothing changed for them. In the wait many of the retirees bid adieu to this immortal world but the much awaited DPC did never come in their life time. They died and died as in-charges .The tag did not detach from them in their lifetime nor after death as people mourned and condoled him/her death saying he was a pious in- charge. On the other hand, with each passing day the count of retirees waiting for the DPC increased and count to the retirees biding adieu was also not static. In many instances even working in-charges also expired with the unfulfilled desire of confirmation. Therafter year 2019 came with a bang for them ,as in January itself General Administration Department in compliance to the decision by then State Administrative Council headed by then Governor Satya Pal Malik, came out with government order 114 -GAD -of 2019 Dated: 23-01-2019, once again granting education department one time exemption for considering regularisation cases through DPC of all fresh and backlog in-charge officers. This Government order could also not bring cheers to their faces as submitting this document and that document continued without the conduct of much awaited DPC. Tentative seniority lists were published for objections and if unfortunately some one of them had any correction in his/her particulars , he had to visit his office /institution last served and get the things rectified and then ensure this is forwarded through proper channel to higher office. After finalisation of seniority lists, incumbents once again were asked to submit service history sheets for vigilance clearance, service particulars and integrity certificates even if they have superannuated from active service years before. Justice and convention demanded that if a person retires from active service and for one year after retirement, no case of misconduct /misuse of official position or funds, arises against him , it is deemed he has nothing against him and cannot be denied any benefit , the same does not apply in this department for this unfortunate lot.
Years after their retirements they were made to submit their service history sheets for clearing their names from vigilance department. Not to talk of retirees, the families of expired officials/officers who had retired years before and had expired were also made to submit the service history sheets for vigilance clearance. The story does not end here , their vigilance clearance was received from concerned quarters, their integrity certificates were received from concerned Directorates, but since nothing happened for more than one year, the said certificates expired after stipulated time of six months as per standing rules. Fresh service history sheets /integrity certificates were sought once again from concerned and the process was once again started afresh. The DPC remained an illusion and fantasy for this lot which in-spite of all formalities did not become a reality due to reasons best known to officer heading the HRM cell of education department. During this long period a number of administrative secretaries came , many of them tried their best to conduct this DPC but why they failed and could not succeed to conduct this DPC, is a million dollar question which needs an in-depth investigation so that responsibility is fixed. In many cases, in-charge lecturers of many subjects were made to submit the said documents thrice but the delusionary DPC was not convened. Is not it a human rights violation where families of expired In-charge lecturers or the retired in-charge lecturers along with the serving ones are made to submit same documents year after year without any output.
The families of expired in-charge lecturers and retired in-charge lecturers are seeking only pensionary benefits which is their due and legitimate right and denying them same on different pretexts , manipulated reasons is a grave human rights violation. It is difficult to undetstand that it is an effort by the concerned officers to defeat the very purpose of issuance of order by State Administrative Council and General Administration Department which were issued after a thorough thought but if any subordinate officer is hell bent to fail any Government initiative, none can help except the government who can fix responsibility and accountability. Chief Secretary Union Territory of J&K last month issued instructions to all administrative secretaries that all bottle necks regarding promotions need to be removed and DPC’s be conducted regularly but such directions have been thrown to winds. It seems bottlenecks are created not removed to avoid the much awaited DPC at any cost. Many other departments who were granted same one time exemption last year itself have almost completed the process after conducting regular DPC’s but for this department three years are not sufficient. Let better sense prevail over all concerned, and instead of manipulating facts and figures for avoiding their legitimate assignment, they should take initiatives to settle this human issue, otherwise thousands of in-charges (retired/ working/ families of expired) may be forced to approach Lt. Governor, Chief Secretary of the UT apprising them about the victimisation and mental trauma this lot has been put to , and request them to go out for assessing the performance/ delivery of last two years of all officers assigned with this task.
(The author is I/c Lecturer Political Science Kulgam)
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