We feel that merely issuing instructions as the UT Government has recently done , to have a realistic look into personnel matters and ”remove bottlenecks” of different hues was not going to make any perceptible difference unless a pragmatic and holistic approach backed by a well prepared personnel policy was taken in the matter . At the outset, it has to be realised that employees are the backbone of an organisation, Government Department or whatever and are the mode and the bridge of carrying forward the programmes and schemes of the Government to the intended purposes . How much progress was there in the Governmental works , initiatives and programmes was directly linked with how the employees were motivated to put in their best on the premise ”reward for performance and penalty for non performance”. A policy of “Give and Take” usually should bind the employees and the Government (the employer) in that for doing good , dedicated and sincere work there should be all sorts of encouragement starting from the top most incentive of timely promotion and other sorts of recognition of such work including providing periodic trainings to such employees while scaling the ladder of career building, i.e; promotions again to expect still better performance. On the contrary , non -performance and sheer inefficiency should be properly penalised. In short, a better understanding and a healthy relationship should exist between the two by virtue of which there should be no compromise on the quantity and quality of work performed , fulfilling targets and assigned jobs in time by the employees and on the other hand , the Government should be found not compromising on granting timely promotions , transfers on due date , sanctioning of all such facilities which an employee , in ordinary course, was entitled to. Does such a scientific but simple system exist in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir? Had it been so, the issue of ”promotions and regularisations” should have not remained not well defined so far and the Administrative Secretaries not asked to convene Departmental Promotion Committee meetings regularly as per the fresh directions of the Government issued recently. How many years a fresh recruit appointed on “irregular” basis was to continue as such for 5 years , 10 years or more and when to expect to be “regularised” is still not defined as a clear cut personnel policy. That is why, liberties are taken with this sensitive issue and it is perhaps up to the ”sweet will” of the concerned executive when to consider to regularise (read convert into a permanent ) an employee. In spite of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission functioning absolutely normally, still promotions preceded by promotion committee meetings do not take place. In other words , backlog of promotions and vacant posts remaining unattended -all leads to and results in resentment among the employees , sending negative messages etc whereby performance and individual output become a casualty. We , however, note with satisfaction that the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir keeps human resources management or in common parlance the personnel matters under his priorities and has been calling for bringing in “comprehensive measures” to bring up a motivated work force in the UT. However, the pertinent point here is whether such comprehensive measures have been duly delineated, defined, codified and amended from time to time only to be implemented and enforced? We are afraid, we have not come across any such development in the subject matter. It is an admitted fact that on the whole, the quality of service delivery in Jammu and Kashmir is below the average, to stem the rut, therefore, it is imperative to have a well prepared personnel policy which was well incorporated with relevant clauses, was pragmatic in approach , promising rewards for better performance and punishments for work shirking , granting incentives , spelling out basis and terms and conditions of recruitment on temporary basis and making them permanent , contract recruitment and other issues. Once it is done , most of the problems in respect of human resources management shall be over to the benefit of the employees as well as the Government
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