The Higher Education Department (HED) has landed in fresh controversy over alleged “kitchen postings” in recent transfers of Principals and the transfer of a teacher months after his superannuation, triggering serious questions over administrative scrutiny, transparency and the functioning of the department’s transfer mechanism.
According to Government Order No. 141-JK(HE) of 2026 dated May 18, Rajinder Sharma, Associate Professor of Botany posted at GDC R.S. Pura, was transferred and asked to look after the charge of Principal GDC Ramnagar.
However, faculty members pointed out that Sharma had already retired on January 31, 2026.
“A faculty member who superannuated months ago has now been assigned the charge of Principal. It reflects serious negligence in processing transfer proposals,” a faculty member of GDC R.S. Pura said on condition of anonymity.
The recent transfer order has also revived criticism over alleged favouritism in the posting of Principals to prestigious Jammu city colleges despite seniority concerns.
Academicians cited the recent transfer of Sanjay Kumar Verma from GDC, Udhampur to Government MAM College Jammu, barely months after his posting to Udhampur following a prolonged tenure in Cluster University Jammu (CLUJ).
Sanjay verma is left with few months of retirement and posted in prestigious city college, making mockery of system and staking progress of coveted college of UT, says one teacher posted in GGM Science College.
Similar objections were raised over the transfer of Naveen Anand from GDC Bhagwati Nagar to GCW Parade.
Questioning that what makes Naveen Anand indispensable, hopping from college to college where as lady principals with better merit are posted in distant areas, reliable sources in HED reveal, “Due to prevailing groupism and lobbying wherein only some special belonging to a coteriee are adjusted in city GDCs leading to chaos in HED”.
Several Principals also questioned the repeated postings of male as Principal in Women Colleges in Jammu province despite the fact that several senior female Principals are dumped in peripheral colleges.
They demanded that the department make public the criteria adopted for such transfers in the larger interest transparency and fairness claimed with hype by HED in Jammu and Kashmir UT.
Efforts to seek viewpoint of HED failed to materialized. The news item will be updated as and when their response was received.