Govt decides to approve special recruitment rules

Weightage to various marginalized categories; no domicile certificates needed at application stage

J&K government has decided to approve the ‘Jammu and Kashmir Appointment to Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules, 2020’ to lay down the procedure as well as the criteria for selection to all class IV posts.

The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the Administrative Council held under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu.

Principal Secretary PDD and Information, Rohit Kansal, who is also the government spokesperson said the decision of laying a quick and simple procedure for filling up of class IV vacancies follows the decision of the government to notify over 10,000 posts for Accelerated Recruitment at all levels- Doctors, Vets, Panchayat Accounts Assistants and Class-IV employees.

Kansal said that the accelerated recruitment process shall be started with Class IV vacancies.

The Accelerated Recruitments Committee has already identified 7052 Class-IV vacant posts at the UT, divisional and district cadre levels in various departments of the government.

All these posts shall be filled up through a Special Recruitment Drive. The concerned departments shall place their indents to the Services Selection Board (SSB) through the General Administration Department. The SSB shall be sole agency for the Special Recruitment Drive, an official handout said.

Kansal, according to the statement, said that in order to simplify the process and cut down all delays, the Administrative Council has also ordered that all concerned departments will make necessary amendments/ modifications in their relevant Recruitment Rules based on this decision alone and that no separate approval shall be sought for this purpose.

Speaking about the procedure and criterion laid down in the Jammu and Kashmir Appointment to Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules, 2020, the spokesperson said that these rules address many of the deficiencies of the earlier rules, adding that these Rules clearly define the procedure for referral of Class-IV vacancies, clubbing of the vacancies, preparation of wait lists, select lists etc. with the aim to fill all advertised vacancies within a period of one year, extendable by six months.

Giving details of the selection process, Kansal said that the marks obtained in the written test of 100 marks will have primacy in the selection criteria. There will be no interview. He reiterated that no documents including domicile certificate will be required to be submitted at the time of filling the application form.

Explaining the significant features of the rules, the spokesperson added that the rules provide for additional weightage to various marginalized categories.

He elaborated that that in order to give benefit to the marginalized sections comprising of widows, divorced/judicially separated women and orphan girls keeping into consideration the extreme compassion involved in their case, an additional weightage of five marks shall be given to such candidates. Similarly, an additional weightage of five marks shall be given to those candidates with no family member in government service. Daily Rated Workers and other similar candidates who have been engaged for at least five years shall be given an additional weightage of five marks. They shall also be given a 5 years age relaxation in the upper age limit.

Kansal reminded that the procedure and rules for domicile certificate had already been notified under The Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020.

He added that these Rules prescribe a very simple and time bound procedure for issuance of Domicile Certificates. He said that PRC holders will be eligible on the basis of their PRCs alone and no other document shall be required in their case. Kashmiri migrants too can get the Domicile certificate on production of either a PRC or Certificate of registration as a migrant. A special limited provision has also been made for bonafide migrants and bonafide displaced persons who may have not registered so far.

The certificates shall be issued expeditiously and there shall be a timeline of 15 days for issuance of the certificate after which the applicant shall be free to approach an Appellate Authority. There are provisions for penalties and revisional powers. The rules also have a provision that applications for grant of Domicile Certificate can be submitted either physically or electronically online. The Competent Authority can also issue domicile certificate(s) electronically. The procedure has an inbuilt mechanism to ensure speed and transparency and no one need to have any apprehensions on this count.