Of 4 ATOs, None From Valley
Srinagar, Sept 8: Incredible! A Kashmiri will now have to approach the revenue authorities with an application in Hindi and not in Urdu, as the Naib Tehsildar of his area, in all likelihood, may not even be familiar with the state’s official language. That is what the state’s subordinate services recruitment board known as Services Selection Board has done while making selections for the posts of naib tehsildars.
The selection lists of the state cadre posts issued by SSB recently have set the alarm bells ringing in Kashmir as most selections are routinely made from a particular region leaving the Kashmiri candidates high and dry.
Let’s analyze the selection list of naib tehsildars released by SSB Monday. Out of 107 selections made against three notifications, 72 are from Jammu and just 30 from Kashmir while Ladakh has got a negligible five.
Intriguingly, on the same day, the SSB issued another selection list of four assistant tourist officers in which not a single candidate from the Kashmir valley- a global tourist destination –figures.
This follows the August 26 selection of 13 junior employment officers by SSB, where only a single candidate from the Kashmir valley could find a place while all other lucky selectees were from the other division, mostly from Kathua and Jammu.
Interestingly, all the three services – revenue, tourism and employment – where the latest selections made by SSB are heavily loaded towards a particular region, are the feeding services for induction into the coveted Kashmir Administrative Service under the promotion quota.
Coming to the naib tehsildar list, out of the 52 selections made against notification No 01 of 2002, 38 are from Jammu, 12 from Kashmir and two from Kargil. Out of 36 selections made against notification No 09 of 2005 by SSRB, 24 are from Jammu 10 from Kashmir and two from Ladakh. Similarly, out of 19 NT selections made against the notification No 04 of 2008, 10 are from Kashmir valley, eight from Jammu and one from Ladakh.
The apparent regional inequity in selections is not confined only to the state cadre posts. When it comes to the selections at the divisional and district levels, the candidates from the Kashmir valley again get a drubbing with those from Jammu region walking away with a much bigger share of jobs from the valley-districts.
As per official figures, out of 3689 divisional and district cadre selections made by SSB under the much-hyped fast-track mode in the Kashmir valley, candidates from Jammu region walked away with 657 posts from the openings in the valley while on the contrary just two candidates from the valley got selected in 2521 district/divisional cadre selections made in Jammu region.
“Definitely there seems to be a pattern in these heavily loaded recruitments towards a particular region,” a retired civil servant told Greater Kashmir. He blamed the lack of will among the Kashmiri politicians, regardless of their party affiliations, for facilitating the systematic exit of Kashmiris from the state administration.

SSB at its best
• In Naib tehsildar list, out of the 52 selections made against notification No 01 of 2002, 38 are from Jammu, 12 from Kashmir and two from Kargil.

• In another NT list out of 36 selections made against notification No 09 of 2005 by SSB, 24 are from Jammu 10 from Kashmir and two from Ladakh.

• Similarly, out of 19 NT selections made against the notification No 04 of 2008, 10 are from Kashmir valley, eight from Jammu and one from Ladakh.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Sep 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:00:00 IST