Process going on to resolve matter: Officials
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, July 10: More than three years have passed since the creation of Medical Colleges (MCs) in J&K but the Government has not yet been able to sort out the matter of pay anomaly concerning various non-Gazetted posts that have been created in these newly established MCs.
In this regard, several representations have been forwarded by the aggrieved employees to the Health & Medical Education (H&ME) Department, but the matter till date remains unresolved.
Earlier, the matter was forwarded to the Finance Department for the necessary action in this regard, however, it was then noted that in the absence of recruitment rules, the fixing of pay anomaly was not possible.
As per officials, the file in this connection was then sent back to the H&ME for necessary action and the department began the process of carrying out the necessary changes, but, so far, the resolution of the matter has been witnessing undue delay.
The issue has been brought to the notice of the officials by the Vocational Counsellors of GMC Baramulla, Anantnag, Kathua and Doda along with Store-Keepers and Health Inspectors including Audio and Video Technicians and Matrons, pointing out the anomaly in their present pay grade.
Earlier, when the establishment of these Medical Colleges began, a sanction was accorded to the creation of 3,375 posts for the establishment of five new Government Medical Colleges in J&K while later, the H&ME notified the posts, 675 each for GMC Anantnag, GMC Baramulla, GMC Rajouri, GMC Doda and GMC Kathua.
After that, the need for working out the pay scales of posts in new Government Medical Colleges was felt, and subsequently, two orders were issued in September and November 2019 under which the necessary directions were passed. However, due to the reasons unknown, the exercise was not conducted well within the set time, prompting the department to form a committee to work out the actual pay scale issues.
Once that was done, the concerned committee then filed its report to the Finance Department regarding the rectification of the pay scale, but the Finance Department was not satisfied, stating that it won’t be able to rectify the pay scale issues due to the absence of recruitment rules, leaving it all on to the H&ME to fix the matter first by ensuring missing recruitment rules.
It is to be noted here that Excelsior had earlier carried a report on the issue in March this year and officials had said that the matter was again taken up with the Finance Department for the resolution of the same. However, despite the passage of three months, there has not been much progress made in this direction.
What is also interesting to note here is that a similar issue was confronted by the post of the Principals for the new MCs, but the same has been taken care of.
Principal Secretary, H&ME Manoj Kumar Dwivedi told Excelsior that the process of fixing the issue regarding the pay anomaly in the new Medical Colleges was on; however, he did not give any time frame within which the matter would be resolved. “We are in a process of fixing the pay anomaly issues, and we are making sure that the matter is resolved soon,” he said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
