Srinagar, Apr 21: A panel of Legislative Assembly has called for drastic changes in the selection process for state level civil service examination in order to bring in transparency and plug the loopholes.
In its recommendations, the panel on subordinate legislations headed by Member Legislative Assembly Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami has suggested major overhaul in Combined Services Examination (CSE) conducted by J&K Public Service Commission for selection of junior scale of J&K Administrative Service, J&K Police (Gazetted) Service, J&K Accounts (Gazetted) Service and other Gazetted Services.
According to the report, there should be audio-video recording and reduction in marks for interview/viva voice to ensure credibility of the selection process.
The criteria of fixing 250 marks for viva-voce be reduced to 200 or less to remove the misperceptions amongst the aspirants that due to influence in viva-voce the position of the meritorious candidates gets affected, the panel recommends.
Besides, there is call for switching over to CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) for preliminary examination on the pattern of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for All India Civil services.
The Government of India had approved CSAT mode to replace preliminary examination to shortlist candidates for the main exam. Following the decision , the candidates since 2011 have to appear in two objective-type papers having special emphasis on testing their ‘aptitude for civil services’ as well as on ‘ethical and moral dimension of decision-making.’
The 6-page report also says that mains examination should be test of general ability i.e, common subjects for all candidates: General English, Essay, Language, General Studies, Political Science, Public Administration, Geography, History, Science and Technology.
This method, the report says, will do away with the complaints regarding variation of marks allotted to different subjects and can also help PSC in switching over to roundtable marking system.
“The suggestion is based on the fact that the above mentioned examination is being conducted for selecting future administrators of the state, who are expected to have basic knowledge to understand political, social, historical, geographical and administrative health of the state,” the report reads.
While suggesting that candidates should only get three to five chances to appear in Combined Services Examination, the committee says that rule relating to age should be strictly adhered to.
“The rules relating to age and number of chances needs to be clearly spelled out to streamline the process of selection and to make job of selection agency easy,” it says, adding that waiting lists should be issued along with selection list by PSC.
“The vacancies of officers should be filled up within reasonable time.” The report says that PSC was encountering number of difficulties for carrying out selection process in a transparent manner and there was need for updation, rectification, amplification of existing rules to facilitate expeditious and transparent selections.
Committee on Subordinate Legislations had earlier submitted a report on the subject in 1977 when slain Peoples Conference founder Abdul Ghani Lone headed the panel.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 21 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST