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| Banning inter-district recruitments | | Bill can drive a wedge between NC, Cong | |
Sant Kumar Sharma
SRINAGAR, Aug 30: The government has been dragging its feet on a controversial issue for nearly a month but now when session of legislative assembly is drawing to close all eyes are on the report of Joint Select Committee which had studied the Bill seeking to ban inter-district recruitments in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Bill tabled in the Legislative Assembly earlier this year was later referred to a Joint Select Committee of both Houses headed by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather. After its three meetings since March, the JSC okayed the controversial Bill with some minor amendments and returned for presentation in the House. However, it is to be seen whether government tables report in the House for passing or not as the ruling coalition partner Congress to averse to the proposals.
The proposed legislation on banning inter-district recruitments for district cadre posts can draw a wedge between the National Conference and the Congress. The NC members want the law to be passed immediately but the Congress MLAs, particularly from the Jammu region, are maintaining an ambivalent position and want it to be postponed for now.
Presently, due to a court order, there is no bar on such recruitments and a resident of Kathua can apply for a district cadre post advertised in Kupwara. And vice-versa.
This has led to a piquant situation as candidates from the Jammu region have been recruited in districts like Kupwara, Baramulla and Ganderbal, according to officials. The exact details of such recruitments have not been compiled and made public so far.
The legislators from constituencies like Karnah, Lolab and Kangan etc allege that the employees from the Jammu region do not discharge their duties properly. Mr Saifullah Mir is on record saying these employees remain absent from their areas of posting and, consequently, the people suffer.
During discussions on the subject in the Legislative Assembly some days ago, senior NC leader and the Forest Minister, Mian Altaf, strongly opposed inter-district recruitments. The NC legislator from Karnah, Mr Kafil ur Rehman, also strongly supported Mian Altaf.
The Revenue Minister, Mr Raman Bhalla, a Congress legislator from Gandhi Nagar in Jammu, expressed views contrary to the NC legislators. However, the other Congress members are maintaining pregnant silence on the issue.
The differences between the coalition partners, the NC and the Congress, on the issue are thus out into the open. The divide is both along party as also on regional lines.
Due to inter-district recruitment policy, candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories are the biggest beneficiaries. Candidates belonging to these categories are now applying in all the 22 districts and getting recruited.
Some legislators from districts like Srinagar and Baramulla term this practice as unfair because the population of these communities in these districts is negligible.
In recruitments, all districts should provide quota for SCs/STs. However, for general category posts, inter-district recruitments can be stopped, veteran legislator Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party said.
If reservations to SCs/STs are denied through the law banning inter-district recruitments, the aggrieved can always approach a court of law. The legality of such a law can always be scrutinized by the courts and remedial measures, if any required, taken, he pointed out.
The BJP legislators, all 11 of them hailing from the Jammu region, are unanimous in opposing any ban on inter-district recruitments.
The reserved seats (SC category) of R S Pura, Raipur Domana and Hiranagar are held by BJP legislators Messrs Gharu Ram, Bodh Raj and Durga Dass, respectively. They have vowed to target Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (who holds Khour reserved seat) for his alleged anti-SC stance in case he supports the ban on inter-district recruitments.
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