JKPSC mulling to revise regulations for new recruitments

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (PSC) is likely to revise the old regulations of the Commission for making recruitments of Gazetted posts in various government departments.
The revision of regulations, officials said will be implemented for posts advertised by government departments in future.
“ As of now, selection for Gazetted posts is being done as per the previous regulations of the commission as these posts were advertised in past years,” said Secretary PSC, Shakeel Ul Rehman Rather.
He said the commission was in the process of revising the regulations to fill Gazetted posts in various departments. “ But it will take some time. Right now we are following older rules for older notifications. Once new posts are advertised, selection will be done as per the revised rules,” Rather said.
Interestingly, the move to revise the JKPSC regulations comes at a time when the commission is in the process of making selection for the posts of Assistant Professors in the Higher Education Department (HED).
Officials said the candidates who have applied for the post of Assistant Professors in HED were shortlisted by PSC on basis of their merit in Post Graduation (PG) which gives advantage to the candidates having their PG degrees from outside state universities.
“ It is sheer injustice with the candidates who have completed their PG degrees from state universities where merit doesn’t go above 55- 60 percent. Even their high level degrees like PhD is not counted for being shortlisted,” the officials said.
They said the present system of selection for the posts of Assistant Professors in HED will deteriorate the whole education system as the genuine candidates are ignored in the process.
“ Those having PhD degrees are screened out while as those having completed PG degrees with high merit from outside universities are shortlisted for the posts,” the officials said.
Officials said the selection for the posts of Assistant Professors was lingering since 2013. They said HED referred 1651 posts of Assistant Professors to PSC however the process remained lingering after UGC framed new criteria for the selection process in HED. Meanwhile Secretary PSC said the regulations in the commission exist since 1980s.
“ This is in PSC regulation; we make selection on basis of merit in PG degree. This process is in vogue since 1980s. We give six marks to candidates for having PhD and four marks are given for having M. Phil degree to their credit,” he said.
He, however, said the Commission is working for revision of regulations for new recruitments.

Syed Rizwan Geelani

Rizwan works as a journalist with The Daily Greater Kashmir