Srinagar: Government employees in Jammu & Kashmir have been asked to choose whether they want to serve in the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir after bifurcation on 31 October, or Ladakh, with the government retaining the final call on where they are posted.
According to sources in the current Jammu & Kashmir administration, Ladakh will need around 7 per cent of the state’s employee pool. Employees recruited under the J&K Administrative Service Rules, junior administrative grades and J&K Accounts (Gazetted) Service have until 22 October to make their preference clear, the J&K administration said in an order issued last week by the General Administrative Department.
They will also have to answer why they made a certain choice, documents accessed by ThePrint show.
Ladakh is seen by many as a punishment posting given its extreme weather and rugged terrain, and some government employees are worried they may be posted there against their wish because few are likely to opt for a stint there. Others, however, said there will be enough takers for the union territory and there is no cause for worry.
“Ladakh may not be the first choice for the majority of employees here. That is my concern,” a mid-level government official told ThePrint. “If there aren’t enough people willing to go to Ladakh, what will happen then?”
A police officer said while it might be unfair to not want a posting in Ladakh, “but choices do matter”. “Ladakh is seen as a punishment posting even in J&K Police, probably owing to the weather or its distance from J&K’s summer capital (Srinagar),” the officer added.
Another state government official said there is a possibility that many state employees will opt for Ladakh. “See, there might be a situation where employees opt for Ladakh. There are many in the state administration who are from the region and they might like to stay close to home. It shouldn’t be a problem,” the official said.
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A new civil service for Ladakh
In the order seeking employee preferences, the Jammu & Kashmir administration stated that it won’t be “obligatory for the government to allocate the employee to the union territory of his/her choice… and it shall be the prerogative of the government to allot/depute the employee in terms of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019”.
According to the order, the proposed lieutenant governor of J&K, which now becomes a union territory with a legislature like Delhi, will determine the posting of state employees.
Senior government officials said the administration might constitute a ‘Ladakh Civil Service (LCS)’ to accommodate employees who opt to work for the union territory.
The administration, the sources added, has proposed the creation of 270 “specific posts” for the administration of Ladakh. “The proposal will be finalised by the central-government-constituted committee overseeing the bifurcation process,” one of the sources said.
Two new districts
Meanwhile, the process of bifurcation seems to be going ahead at a decent pace. The J&K administration has begun the exercise to finalise the budget for the union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
According to an order issued by the finance department last week, the budget section on accounts for the current financial year will be segregated into two parts — from 1 April to 31 October 2019 and from November 2019 to April 2020.
After the bifurcation kicks in, the Ladakh division, which currently has two districts, may get another two, ThePrint has learnt.
A senior government official said the administration is likely to carve out Nubra and Zanskar as districts, alongside the two existing ones, Kargil and Leh.
On the law and order front, Ladakh is likely to get an additional director general of police, two inspector generals, three deputy inspector generals, eight senior superintendents of police/superintendents of police, and two armed battalions.
The SSPs will head individual units handling crime, traffic vigilance, and anti-hijacking operations.
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