Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 6: Assessing sensitivity and gravity of the subject matter, given the present scenario of vacancy position of Superintending Engineer SE (E), JKEEGA Executive Body under the chairmanship of Er. Sachin Tickoo General Secretary met here in Jammu and sought urgent intervention of Hon'ble Chief Minister and Principal Secretary PDD towards this critical issue.
Sachin Tickoo while addressing the Executive Body apprised the members that against the total cadre strength of 36 posts of Superintending Engineer (E), existing strength at present remains as 8 only. As such number of vacancies as on 01.08.2025 against the cadre strength is 28, which in the coming months as a result of superannuation and promotions, bound to get further increased and by the end of Dec 2025 almost 33 posts shall fall vacant.
The main bottleneck which is coming in way of promotions at Superintending Engineer level is that as per age old recruitment rules of 1978, three years service as Executive Engineer, and minimum 17 years of Gazetted Service has been mandatorily stipulated. The Most of the officers presently holding the post of Executive Engineers are retiring within next one year. Consequentially in view of deficient qualifying service, none of the Executive Engineers shall be eligible for promotions and a complete vacuum at the level of SE post, shall get created and hence ultimately the Chief Engineer level will also get affected and stagnation at AE/AEE/XEN levels shall be at its peak. The situation therefore, necessitates partial relaxation in the qualifying service required for the promotion to the level of Superintending Engineer. As such, to maintain, bare minimum cadre strength at this level, relaxation in the eligibility criteria needs to be considered. Reduction of qualifying service to one year as Executive Engineer for promotion to the post of Superintending Engineer out of the total cumulative Gazetted service of 17 years may be considered. Availability of SEs serving as the Controlling Officers being imperative for the functioning and overall operationalization of various Corporations of JKPDD.
Proposed relaxation shall pave way for the availability of vacancies at the level of Executive Engineers, and thus shall provide opportunities to the aspiring AEEs for promotion to the next higher level.
As per the CSR rules, Relaxation could be considered under Rule-5 of J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1956, stating therein, that "Any of these rules made , may for reasons to be recorded in writing, be relaxed by the Government in individual cases, if Government is satisfied that a strict application of the rule would cause hardship to the individual concerned or confer undue benefit on him".
It is pertinent to mention that relaxation has been considered by Jal Shakti Department and formal Govt. order too has been issued under No: 94-JK(JSD) of 2025 Dated: 02.04.2025, wherein such relaxation has been granted and even promotions based on this relaxed criteria have been issued at level of Superintending Engineer level in Jal Shakti Department.
Given the foregoing peculiar situation arisen, due to the delayed placements/ promotions, there remains no option available other than to grant relaxation in years of experience as one time exception to address the grave and vital issue.
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