Joint PSC for J&K, Ladakh

Now it is more than two and a half years since Ladakh was carved out from the then state of Jammu and Kashmir as a separate Union Territory and , therefore, leverage can be agreeably afforded to the government there in getting attuned to a system entirely new if not different but giving enough strength and enthusiasm on account of managing things of theirs by themselves and on the spot instead of what the position was prior to it. We , however, watch and duly report too, various activities in respect of economic development of the Himalayan region being attended to by the Ladakh government under the Lieutenant Governor and since that process in itself is never ending , attention to other vital areas should not be scant , deficient or even missing altogether. Good governance and quick delivery on the ground should be the hallmark especially in cases like undergoing constitutional changes for the better like Ladakh becoming a Union Territory the chief aim of which was providing comparatively better, hassles free and quick delivery of governance .
So far as managing the workforce for its departments , establishments and offices , reasonable cooperation and help has been extended intermittently to the UT of Ladakh by Jammu and Kashmir government as and when demanded. Despite that, many departments had none at the top to man until last year which too was got salvaged. However, despite all that, newer problems should surface especially those which should have been resolved in their infancy in itself definitely augurs not well for the UT administration. In this, the onus is also on the Central Government, perhaps, in not ensuring whether a virtual ”checklist” mandatory to be looked into and those jobs or assignments attended to and completed ticked off from that list so as to know at any point of time which ones were left out and hence needed to be attended to.
Now , the question of constituting Public Service Commission is plaguing the administrative system, what to do about the unemployed educated youth in respect of reaping the utilities and benefits provided for under the constitutional body of the Public Service Commission chiefly regarding posts of Gazetted cadre is the moot question. It could be argued that such eligible youth could apply to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) till Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) initiates the process for Ladakh region. This provision has altogether been rendered as fructituous for the reason of an aspiring candidate to establish that one was a domicile of Jammu and Kashmir. There was no issue or no problem earlier before the erstwhile state getting fragmented into two separate Union Territories as the candidates could apply both in the JKPSC as well as in JKAS and JKPS examinations.
The issue though complicated and allowed to virtually boomerang for two and a high years needs resolution and that also as early as possible since a feel should not be given to the unemployed educated youth that a separate UT meant for them undergoing sacrifices rather than feeling comparatively better placed and benefitted than before. We have the case study of the states of Haryana and Punjab where till the time separate commissions respectively for both the states were constituted, a joint Public Service Commission worked so as not to cause any denial of benefits and rights to the concerned candidates or loss of available opportunities. It will be , therefore, quite in the fitness of things that a joint PSC for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh was mooted by the government to be set up and necessary amendments in the provisions carried in a spirit of togetherness by both the Union Territory governments, all in the interests and to allay the fears of the youth of Ladakh who, at the moment, feel really deprived of their right to pass through the non-optional formalities in order to be selected for gazetted posts vis-a-vis the Public Service Commission.