Srinagar, May 28: Having waited long for regularisation, a major chunk of adhoc and contractual employees are set to lose their jobs under the newly enacted - Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 for varied reasons.
An Empowered Committee of officers, headed by Commissioner/Secretary Finance, for short-listing ‘eligible’ adhoc and contractual employees for regularisation has so-far picked out just 187 candidates out of 1000 cases scrutinised by it.
There are, according to official estimates, around 6000 to 7000 adhoc/contractual appointees presently working in various departments, some of them having been there for more than a decade.
While during scrutiny some cases were rejected on the basis of lack of requisite qualification for the post held by adhoc/contractual employee, in most of the rejected cases the appointments were made on the basis of temporary arrangement like leave vacancy, academic arrangement or substitute. While in some other cases the appointees are yet to complete 7 years of contractual/adhoc service – a prerequisite for regularisation under the Act.
“Such appointments are not covered under the Act for regularisation as short-listing is being done strictly as per the conditions laid down in the Act,” an officer associated with the panel said.
The officer said that out of 187 short-listed candidates, only 46 have been sent to the concerned departments for follow up action (regularization) as per the guidelines laid down in the Act.
“Going by the law, the services of the candidates who don’t fall in the criteria for regularisation under the Act would be discontinued,” the official said. He said the concerned departments have already been communicated such cases as well.
For regularization of services any adhoc/contractual/consolidated appointee in any department must fulfil certain criteria under the Act. The candidate shall have completed 7-years of service, shall have been appointed against a clear vacancy, shall have the requisite qualification to work on the post and should be a state subject, among other criteria. An appointee fulfilling all other criteria except for the time period would be regularized after 7-years.
“We can’t brush away the fact that in some cases the appointments were made in contravention of the rules,” the official said.
Asked whether the authorities had floated rules to absorb the appointees despite having no clear vacancy in the department, sources said it was for government to decide on it in view of the Act.
“The Law is very tough and it is hitting almost everybody. There should have been a provision for creation of supernumerary post,” sources said. That the whole process may get entangled in judicial fight can’t be ruled out.
Besides under the new law, any appointee would be treated as regular government employee only from the day his/her service is confirmed by the Committee. However in some cases the appointees have already completed 10 to 15 years of service, and it means that they would not be entitled to post retirement benefits as they would not have the requisite qualifying service for the same.
“In the event of non-receipt of objections within the prescribed time period, it shall be deemed that there is no objection against the eligibility of concerned incumbents already cleared by Empowered Committee and their names shall accordingly be recommended to their respective Administrative Departments for issuance of formal orders in their favour as per the Act.” reads a notification which was issued by Finance Department last month.
The administrative departments concerned would require preparing “Memorandum in Coordination” for the notified cases and take them up with the Chief Minister’s office for regularisation of services, sources said.
Another 640 plus cases examined have been found deficient of the required information and returned back to the departments concerned for the follow-up report by the Empowered Committee which has so far held eight meetings.
“The process is hectic and time-consuming because all the required details about every individual case are to be examined very minutely, and in coordination with the departments concerned,” sources said.
Officials said around 6000 to 7000 cases of the adhoc/contractual/consolidated employees were received by the Committee from different departments for regularisation.
Though government had earlier set June 2010 as cut off date for submission of the cases for regularisation it later extended the dates to January 31 this year.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 May 2011 00:00:00 IST