The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — The All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has raised concerns regarding the absence of Sikh representation in autonomous bodies such as the Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) and Jammu & Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB).

In a press release issued today, the APSCC called upon Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to appoint honest and upright Sikh officers to these crucial positions.

Jagmohan Singh Raina, Chairman of APSCC, emphasized the need for inclusion, stating that there are numerous qualified Sikh officers capable of serving on the JKPSC and JKSSB. Raina expressed disappointment over what he described as ongoing discrimination against the Sikh community, citing their exclusion from key decision-making bodies as evidence.

"For decades, Sikhs in Jammu & Kashmir have faced systemic discrimination in all aspects of life. Previous administrations have neglected the Sikh community, and unfortunately, the current situation remains unchanged," Raina remarked.

Raina urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to prioritize Sikh representation in Jammu & Kashmir's autonomous bodies, emphasizing the importance of diversity and inclusivity. He also highlighted the absence of any specific employment initiatives tailored to the Sikh community in the union territory.

SRINAGAR — In a major development, the School Education Department has proposed to conduct departmental examinations through the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) to promote its employees.

Besides, the department has also proposed that the Jammu and Kashmir State Council of Educational Research and Training (JKSCERT) will set the syllabus for the departmental examination.

According to the news agency KNO, the department in a communique has said, “For promotion purposes, in addition to B.Ed, a limited departmental examination is proposed to be conducted by JKPSC and JKSCERT shall prepare the syllabus.”

Stating other proposed changes that a B.Ed degree has been added to the existing qualification of existing PG only as per NCTE guidelines.

“For fixing the seniority of a candidate, the date of passing higher qualification required for acquiring full eligibility for promotion be taken as the date of inclusion in seniority in addition to the date of appointment,” it reads.

The communiqué further states that the introduction of the post of Vice Principal equivalent to the number of the principals at HSS from the existing sanctioned strength of senior lecturers without any financial implications.

SRINAGAR — The J&K Public Service Commission today declared the result of the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) 2022.

According to the communique of JKPSC, the Commission in its extraordinary meeting held today on 22-08-2023, after the conclusion of the interviews, decided to declare the result of all the candidates who had appeared in the interview and also notify their aggregate marks while publishing a list of candidates to be summoned for Medical Examination in accordance with the relevant rules.

The communique also reads that the General Administration Department had on April 18, 2022 referred 220 posts to the J&K Public Service Commission for being filled up through the Combined Competitive Examination and accordingly, these posts were advertised by the Commission on April 19, 2022.

The communique further reads that the Preliminary Examination of CCE-2022 was conducted on July 31, 2022 in which 23,571 candidates appeared and the result of the preliminary examination (CCE-2022) was declared on August 18, 2022.

It adds that 4944 candidates were declared to have qualified for appearing in the Main (Written) examination of CCE-2022 and 3891 candidates actually appeared in the examination, held from February 20, 2023 to March 02, 2023, out of which 787 candidates were declared to have qualified for appearing in the interview/personality test, which were held from July 10, 2023 to August 22, 2023.

For the convenience of candidates, the JKPSC this year requested the Health & Medical Education Department to conduct the medical examination of candidates in newly established Medical Colleges, besides GMC Jammu/Srinagar and all the selected candidates are requested to attend any of the Government Medical Colleges (GMCs of Srinagar, Jammu, Anantnag, Baramulla, Doda, Handwara, Kathua, Rajouri or Udhampur) for medical examination on August 23 and 24, 2023 along with six photographs, the communique adds.

The Commission has congratulated Anmol Rathore daughter of Rajiv Rathore, a law graduate, who has topped the overall list securing 1084.50 marks.

It is pertinent to mention that in January 2023, JKPSC declared the result of CCE-2021 and today, the JKPSC completed the process of selection, based on a three-tier examination comprising the preliminary, the mains and the personality test/viva voce in 16 months.

SRINAGAR — Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday appointed Tariq Ahmad Khan, former Director General, Planning Department and Sanjeev Gupta, District and Sessions Judge (retired) as members of Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission.

In a notification, as per the news agency KNO, the General Administration Department said that the LG has appointed Tariq Ahmad Khan, Director General (Expenditure Division), Planning and Sanjeev Gupta, District and Session Judge as members of Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission.

A gold medalist from Kashmir University, Khan did his post-graduation in Commerce and MPhil in Management Accounting. He joined Planning & Statistics Service in 1993 and superannuated in April 2022.

Khan, who has an impeccable service record, held key postings in different departments and played a significant role in infrastructure development in Jammu & Kashmir.

In his illustrious career of 36 years, he worked in various capacities in the Health and Medical Education Department, Planning Development & Monitoring Department, Public Works Department, Power Development Development and Finance Department.

In 2020, Jammu & Kashmir Government conferred him with the UT award for meritorious public services.

SRINAGAR — Aspirants for Prosecuting Officers on Thursday urged Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) to cancel both papers instead of the one and conduct a fresh examination to provide “a level playing field” for all.

JKPSC on Wednesday cancelled “Paper-II” which is of qualifying nature with the further announcement that an examination for it will be conducted on March 16. However, a number of aspirants called the news agency GNS since the announcement was made close-of-day Wednesday, alleging that the cancelation of only Paper-II will provide an advantage to those aspirants who have scored better marks in Paper-I and that decision “rides roughshod” over others.

“As per the scheme of examination, both the papers have an importance of their own. The Paper-I score will count only after one qualifies Paper-II,” the aspirants said, adding, “Had the JKPSC not cancelled the Paper-II ab-initio, those who are having a better score at present in Paper-I would not make it to merit list and selection was to be made among those who qualified by having required numbers in Paper-II.” Now that JKPSC has chosen to cancel only Paper-II, it was providing undue advantage at the cost of others to some aspirants, they said.

“This is clear injustice and unfair with most aspirants,” they said, adding, “It smacks of arbitrariness or to put it in other words, it is irrational and offends the basic requirement of Article 14 of the Constitution.” They said that with the announcement, the JKPSC was setting a “wrong precedent.”

“The examination scheme is such that an aspirant has to first qualify the Paper-II by getting a score as provided under the notification,” they said, adding, “By allowing somebody who has fared better in Paper-I two chances is plainly injustice. Does someone who has fared better in Paper-II and not so good in Paper-I, also deserve two chances at Paper-I?” This clearly, they said, was “unfair”.

As per the JKPSC, its decision to cancel Paper-II followed representations from the candidates through the J&K High Court Bar Association Jammu and others, claiming that the standard of the qualifying paper was higher than the level prescribed in the notification.

“The JKPSC itself has admitted that representations received by it requested for re-conducting the examination, meaning both papers, or allowing the aspirants to appear in the main examination,” the aspirants said, adding, “The JKPSC has chosen to set a wrong precedent and we request the Commission to revisit its decision of only conducting examination for Paper-II, thereby allowing two chances to some aspirants and denying same opportunity to others.”

SRINAGAR — The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) on Wednesday cancelled the Paper-II (Qualifying) of J&K Prosecuting officer (Preliminary) Examination held on January 29, 2023 and announced that a fresh examination will be held on March 16, 2023.

According to an order, as per the news agency KNO, the JKPSC said that the examination held earlier was cancelled after the complaints were received that the examination of the Qualifying Paper-II of the preliminary examination was of a standard higher than the level prescribed in the notification.

“The J&K PSC conducted the Preliminary Examination for filling up the posts of Prosecuting Officers in the Home Department on 29.01.2022 in two shifts. The examination comprised two MCQ-based papers conducted in two sessions on the said day. The Provisional Answer Keys for Paper-I & Paper-II (Qualifying) were notified, seeking objections from the candidates within the stipulated period,” it added.

“Along with the objections, various representations were received from the candidates through the J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu and others, registering their grievance that the examination of the Qualifying Paper-II of the said Preliminary Examination was of a standard higher than the level prescribed in the notification and majority of them could not qualify the same,” it added.

“It was requested to either re-conduct the examination or allow all the aspirants to appear in the Mains examination and the matter was examined in Commission and the Commission decided to conduct the Prosecuting Officer (Preliminary) Examination, Paper-II afresh,” the order reads.

The JKPSC said that in view of the above-stated facts and circumstances, it is ordered that the Paper-II (Qualifying) of J&K Prosecuting officer (Preliminary) examination which was held on 29-01-2023 is cancelled ab-initio.

“The fresh examination for the said paper shall be conducted on March 16, 2023 at the centres to be notified separately,” the order added.

DODA — In a first-of-its-kind feat, three members from a single family including two sisters and their brother qualified for the Mains exam of Jammu Kashmir Administrative Service.

Pertinently, Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission released the JKPSC KAS Result or the JKPSC CCE Mains 2022 result on Friday.

Out of the 3916 candidates who participated in the exam, 648 candidates had been declared qualified for the interview, and post the interview, the personality test of the candidates was conducted from December 5, 2022, to January 19, 2023. Out of the 648, 643 candidates appeared for the interview and now 187 candidates have been selected for the medical examination.

Sources, as per the news agency KNT, said that two sisters and their brother who are from the far-off Trankel village of Khara in Doda district have qualified for the mains exams.

It has probably happened for the first time in KAS competitive examination that three siblings have qualified for this examination.

SRINAGAR — The Jammu & Kashmir Government on Saturday appointed Satish Chandra (retired IAS officer) of Andhra Pradesh cadre as the chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC).

In a notification, a copy of which is in possession of news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Lieutenant Governer Manoj Sinha ordered the appointment of Satish Chandra, IAS (retired), as Chairman, Public Service Commission for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

“In exercise of powers conferred by Section 93 of the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organization Act, 2019, and S.O. 3937 (E) dated 31st October 2019, read with Order issued in terms of sub-clause (i) of clause (c) of the Proclamation issued by the President dated 31st October 2019, the Lieutenant Governor of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is pleased to appoint Mr Satish Chandra, IAS (Rtd.), as Chairman, Public Service Commission for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” reads the notification.

As per the notification, Chandra shall hold the position of chairman of the Public Service Commission until he attains 62 years of age. This means he would hold the position till November 19, 2023.

According to the notification, his appointment shall take effect from the date he assumes the office.

Chandra, an IAS officer of the 1986 batch, attained superannuation in November 2021. Chandra, who has held several key positions in Andhra Pradesh, also served as special chief secretary to the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

He also served as joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers from 2008 to 2013.

JAMMU — The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission has strongly countered the ‘information being shared on social media as well as press statements issued by a number of political parties, seeking rescheduling of the J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination proposed to be held from the 8th April 2022 to 17th April 2022’ and clarified its position with regard to conduct of J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination, 2021.

To set the record straight, dates and events relevant and leading to the conduct of the J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination from April 8, 2022, the JKPSC has reproduced the factual details.

The details describe that the preliminary exam was held on October 24, 2021; 20790 candidates appeared in the examination; preliminary exam results were declared on November 13, 2021, and 4545 candidates were declared eligible for appearing in the J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination, 2021; first public notice issued on 13th November indicating first fortnight of February 2022 as the likely date of start of Mains examinations; second notification inviting applications for Mains was issued on November 26 indicating date of exam commencement as February 14, 2022; keeping in view the onset of the third wave of COVID-19 and conduct of Indian Forest Service Examination, March 8, 2022, was fixed for the commencement of J&K Combined Competitive (Main) examination, 2021. However, this was revised to March 10 so as to facilitate candidates appearing in the IFoS examination by issuing a notification, dated February 22.

JKPSC further said that a few unqualified candidates approached High Court on 21-02-2022 and obtained interim orders which were contested by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission. Due to these interim orders, certain contingencies arose and resultantly exam had to be postponed on March 9 till further notice.

The High Court reserved the Judgment on March 16, 2022, and the same was announced on 01-04-2022 and public notice (date-sheet) was issued on 01-04-2022 itself for the conduct of the J&K Combined Competitive (Main) Examination from April 8, 2022 - April 17, 2022.

Attempts have been made to mislead the general public with reference to Rule 32 of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (Business Rules & Procedure) Rules, 2021 claiming that the rule envisages an intimation period of at least one month before the commencement of the examination. To put things in perspective, it is important to refer to rules 26 (Receipt of Applications), 27 (Scrutiny of Applications), 28 (Determination of Eligibility) and 29 (Appellate Authority) of said rules before conclusions are made since Rule 32 is to be read conjointly with the aforementioned rules and is not to be read in isolation.

To make things even clearer, it is vehemently reiterated that Rule 32 is relevant only when a fresh notification for recruitment is issued and in the present case, the chronology of dates makes it amply clear that since the issuance of the first notice on November 13, 2021, almost 145 number of days have passed and for the candidates to claim that sufficient notice has not been provided is nothing but a mischievous attempt to mislead and cast aspersions on the fairness of the process adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission.

The Commission makes it clear that it is making every effort to conduct the J&K Combined Competitive (Mains) Examination, 2021 in a fair and transparent manner and the same shall be held from April 8, 2022, as per the date sheet already notified in this regard.