"All the vacancies recalled by a recent decision of the Administrative Council shall be referred again to recruitment agencies for fast track recruitment as per the new domicile, reservation and recruitment rules providing equal opportunity to all", official spokesman of J&K government said, adding "a free, fair and merit-based selection shall be quickly ensured."
It is also clarified that withdrawal of posts referred to the Public Service Commission and Service Selection Board (SSB) before 31.10.2019 has only been done for posts where selections have not been made and results have not been declared.
J&K Govt withdraws all posts referred to PSC, SSB prior to Oct 31, 2019
Jammu & Kashmir Government has withdrawn all the vacancies referred to the Public Service Commission and Services Selection Board before October 31, 2019, for which selections have not been finalized to date.
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 to 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date, as also the posts in which there are litigations and the cases are pending in court shall be deemed to have been withdrawn with immediate effect," read the communication No.GAD-MTG0RBIV/ 200/2021-09-GAD, dated 03-02-2022.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.
Decision evokes a strong reaction from political parties
All political parties have opposed this decision of the J&K administration and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to reconsider the same.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that there is no direction from DoPT to the UT Government in this regard. He said the only directives given by the DoPT were the abolition of interviews and selection of candidates based on merit secured by them in written tests. The Minister said only UT Government could respond to it.
"We ask the Lt Governor to immediately revoke the order, as it is not going to benefit anybody,'' J&K BJP spokesman Abhinav Sharma said and termed the decision as "inhuman" and "unconstitutional".
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association has threatened to launch an agitation across the Union Territory unless the administration withdraws the order.
Describing the UT administration's style of functioning as "anti-youth, anti-people, anti-Jammu, and anti-farmers", Bar Association president M K Bhardwaj said, "UT administration has withdrawn the vacancies already referred to PSC and SSB despite the fact that unemployment is increasing day by day in the UT."
Appointments to be made in a timely manner: Govt
J&K administration, however, said that some posts referred to PSC and SSB have remained stuck up for a long period, in some cases from 2004 onwards.
Appointments to posts referred are required to be made in a timely manner, normally within a year or so. Delay of several years vitiates the recruitment process. Recruitment Rules of various departments have been changed/ updated. The qualifications and experience required for a number of posts have changed.
