SRINAGAR: In what may be called a virtual confession of not having records of appointment of over 990 officials, including two district and sessions judges, the Jammu and Kashmir government has requested all its administrative departments to provide ‘supporting documents’ in order ‘to establish the genuineness of their appointments’, before November 15, to the committee headed by principal secretary, finance department.
In what may be called a virtual confession of not having records of appointment of over 990 officials, including two district and sessions judges, the Jammu and Kashmir government has requested all its administrative departments to provide ‘supporting documents’, Indian Express reported.
The aim is to ‘establish the genuineness of their appointments’ before November 15, to the committee headed by the principal secretary, finance department.
Officials, as per Indian Express expressed surprise at the inclusion of two judicial officers, whose records were supposedly verified by the High Court upon joining. While the government initiates the appointment of judicial officers as ‘Munsiff,’ the High Court typically maintains their records. It appears the government did not approach the High Court regarding this matter.
The general administration department (GAD) disclosed that the salaries of these officials have been withheld since the implementation of the JK-HRMS (human resource management system) in October 2022 due to the absence of their initial appointment orders. The GAD, in an office memo dated October 31, has requested various ‘supporting documents’ to verify the legitimacy of these appointments.
Of the affected officials, 541 are from the health and medical education department, followed by 128 from irrigation and flood control, and 83 from education. Other departments affected include industries and commerce, home, Jal Shakti, public health engineering, agriculture production, consumer affairs and public distribution, finance, forests, general administration, PWD, department and hospitality & protocol, revenue, rural development, and science and technology.
The required supporting documents include the authenticated first page of the service book, indicating relevant entries about the initial appointment, recommendations of SSB/PSC (in case of direct recruitment), entries in muster roll or allied records regarding wage payment before regularization (in case of contractual/daily wager/ad-hoc), and references to appointments in official records. These documents must be submitted to the GAD before November 15 for review by the committee, which includes the director general accounts and treasuries, as well as representatives from the GAD, ARI & training, and the department of law, justice, and parliamentary affairs.
The JK-HRMS, launched in October 2022, aims to provide an integrated platform for employee-related services. The government’s decision to disburse October 2022 salaries only to employees registered or updated on the JK-HRMS has been defended by a senior UT administration officer, citing received supporting documents for several employees. The matter concerning the remaining 600-700 employees is expected to be resolved in the coming days.