Jammu: How serious the Jammu and Kashmir administration is about the issue of unemployment and the future of the educated youth of the UT can be gauged by having a cursory look at the entire recruitment process here. The point in reference being a notification issued by J&K Service Selection Board, the other day, withdrawing several posts that were referred to it by the Forest, Ecology and Environment Department in 2020 and were advertised by it in 2021.
In a notification issued by Secretary, J&K Services Selection Board on October 10, 2024 and published in a Jammu-based newspaper, J&KSSB withdrew several posts that were advertised back in June 2021, including Draftsman, Assistant Information Officer, Assistant Law Officer, Data Operator, and Research Assistants.
These positions were under the J&K Pollution Control Board and had been referred to the SSB by the Forest Ecology and Environment Department in March 2020.
The entire process smacks of a fiasco and non-seriousness.
On March 22, 2020, Forest, Ecology and Environment Department “among other posts, referred two posts of Draftsman, one post of Assistant Information Officer, one post of Assistant Law Officer, three posts of Data Operator and nine posts of Research Assistant belonging to J&K Pollution Control Committee.
J&K SSB took its sweat time (more than a year) and advertised the posts on June 04, 2021 and then went into hibernation.
As the recruitment process didn’t move forward as expected, and after more than four years, the Forest Ecology and Environment Department requested the withdrawal of these posts on September 11, 2024.
Consequently, the Service Selection Board returned these posts to the Forest Ecology Environment Department on October 10, 2024, and Service Selection Board informed to those unlucky aspirants who had applied for these posts through a notice dated October 11, 2024, published in a Jammu based English Daily on Oct 12, 2024 about the development.
Both the Indenting Department and the recruiting agency are part of the UT administration and owe an explanation to the aspirants who from last four years were dreaming of getting a job.
But who cares?
A simple notice in a newspaper – no accountability, no questioning, no reasoning, and they broke our dreams ruthlessly, said an aspirant.
The withdrawal of job posts after four years of waiting is disappointing and disheartening for the candidates who invested their precious time and resources in preparing for the job interviews or whatever. But at the end of the day, they were left high and dry with broken and shattered dreams, said a parent of an aspirant.
We are not living in some kingdom where the kings make decisions without giving a fig to rules and norms. We are a democracy. The administration needs to make both the Indenting Department and the J&K SSB accountable. Questions should be raised and people responsible should be made answerable.
“Posts are referred to J&K SSB in 2020, advertised after more than a year in 2021 (why this delay, no explanation), posts are not filled till October 2024 (no explanation, again) and posts are withdrawn in Oct 2024 (yet again no explanation), where is the much talked about transparency and accountability,” questions a young lawyer from Jammu.
The concerned officials should explain the rationale behind this abrupt withdrawal, providing clear reasons for the delay and subsequent cancellation. The affected aspirants deserve answers regarding the utilization of resources expended during the recruitment process and the impact on their career, the demand of unemployed youth who have been pushed to the wall from years as recruitment policy has become too lousy and opaque.
The civil society, both in Jammu and Srinagar expects the would-be peoples’ government to take measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, efficient and timely, asserting that accountability and transparency are crucial in restoring people’s trust in the system and upholding the principles of good governance.
