Panel to look into daily-wagers’ regularisation, J&K CM tells assembly

Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday told the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly that a high-powered panel headed by the chief secretary has been constituted to look into the issue of the regularisation of daily-wagers engaged in government departments across the Union Territory.

The development comes after the CM had informed the J&K assembly on Tuesday to form a high-powered panel headed by chief secretary Atal Dulloo with the sole motive to come up with a roadmap for addressing the issue of regularising daily wagers, ad hoc workers and casual labourers across Jammu and Kashmir. The announcement came after a massive protest by the casual employees across J&K.

“Sanction is hereby accorded to the constitution of a committee, comprising the following, to examine the issues related to regularization of casual, seasonal labourers or other workers etc. in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” said an order by M Raju, commissioner secretary to the government on Wednesday.

The order said that the mandate of the committee shall be to “examine various issues including humanitarian, legal and financial related to the regularization of casual, seasonal labourers or other workers etc in Jammu and Kashmir, and suggest a comprehensive way forward “.

The committee shall be serviced by the general administration department and shall submit its report within a period of six months, the order said.

Daily wagers, casual labourers and government employees’ unions had welcomed the decision of the J&K chief minister to announce formation of a committee for their regularisation but demanded a representation of the employees in the said committee.

“A few days ago, a panel was announced in this House by me and an order to constitute it was issued. The panel has been constituted, and it has been given six months to submit its recommendations to the government,” Abdullah said.

He said the National Conference government was committed to ensuring speedy recruitment to fill vacancies in government departments.

According to an estimate of the previous PDP-BJP coalition government that fell apart in June 2018, Jammu and Kashmir had 61,000 such workers engaged by its departments.

Apart from the chief secretary, the panel has an additional chief secretary in the chief minister’s office and secretaries of the general administration, finance, planning and law departments as members. In six months, it will come up with a framework suggesting long-term solutions.

Earlier, BJP MLA Satish Sharma sought to know measures taken by the government to resolve the long-standing issue of the daily wagers.

On the issue of fast-track recruitment, Abdullah reaffirmed the government’s commitment to filling vacancies efficiently. “The Jammu and Kashmir government has accelerated its recruitment process, filling over 15,000 vacancies in the past two years. As many as 13,466 non-gazetted vacancies were referred to the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) in the past two years, of which 9,351 selections have been completed,” he said.

“Similarly, of the 2,390 gazetted vacancies referred to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC), 2,175 selections have been made,” the CM said.

He said efforts are underway to further streamline hiring. “We have identified 10,757 multi-task service (MTS) vacancies under review at present by the finance department. These positions will be referred to the recruiting agencies soon. Additionally, 6,000 vacancies are ready for referral and will be sent for recruitment shortly,” he said.

To speed up the recruitment process, the government abolished interviews for all posts up to pay level 5 ( ₹29,200-92,300).

A February 14 order removed the interview requirement for level 6 posts, including for junior engineers and naib tehsildars.

He informed the House that to ensure fair hiring, recruitment regulations were revised and notified on November 22, 2022. Now, computer-based written exams will be conducted, and a single exam will be held for multiple posts wherever possible.

The JKPSC and the JKSSB have been directed to adopt a target-based approach and complete recruitment within a time-frame.

“We demand the chief minister to give a representation of the employee committee in the government committee for a unanimous decision,” said president of Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) Wajahat Hussain Durani.

Assembly passes grants for departments under purview of CM

The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, on Thursday, passed grants amounting to ₹59,431.23 lakh for the General Administration Department (GAD), ₹56,009.69 lakh for Planning, ₹14,183.38 lakh for Information, ₹12,47,727.65 lakh for the Power Development Department (PDD), ₹62,70,347.94 lakh for Finance, ₹7,083.77 lakh for Parliamentary Affairs, ₹76,284.53 lakh for the Law Department (excluding the Election Department), ₹81,073.94 lakh for Revenue, ₹4,06,130.30 lakh for Housing & Urban Development (H&UDD), ₹61,280.18 lakh for Tourism, ₹46,683.86 lakh for Hospitality, Protocol & Estates, ₹20,459.31 lakh for Culture, and ₹1,96,369.04 lakh for Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction (DMRRR). The grants were passed following three days of extensive discussions in the House.