By ARFAT KHAN
JAMMU: Circumventing constitutional rights of thousands of educated unemployed youths in Union Territory of J&K, Housing and Urban Development Department has initiated process for permanent absorption of 61 handpicked backdoor contractual employees in Jammu Municipal Corporation manipulating government rules.
The exercise is in contravention to its own order wherein the JMC authorities while hiring services of these Babu’s most favoured class fourth employees in the year 2007 had explicitly stated that engagement shall not be entitled for regularization at any stage.
This move has raised eyebrows as those proposed to be favoured with regularization were hired by the then JMC Commissioner Er Vinod Sharma allegedly through shady means vide order No MJ/ Estt 2434-39 dated 05-07-2007 and MJ/Estt 5591-93 dated 21-08-2007 in connivance with one NGO.
The modus operandi adopted for these appointments is same which notoriously adopt by every government owned corporations in erstwhile J&K state for sham recruitment of handpicked candidates.
Entire process for engagement of these backdoor appointees on contractual basis in the year 2007 lacks transparency as first these notices were published in the ghost newspapers without reference about number of persons to be employed then instead of publishing the selection list, the officers prefer to issue individual orders to beneficiaries, said highly placed sources.
Nearly 200 persons were hired on contract for one year which also includes household helpers of several politicians and Bureaucrats, alleged JMC sources.
Though the H&UDD authorities tried to absorb these backdoor appointees in the JMC under the garb of Municipal Corporation Class IV Services (Special Provision) Regularization 2014 Vide Notification No HUDD /Adm/50/2010 dated 5-9-2014 but the agitated unemployed youth termed this entire exercise as tactical move to overcome the constitutional mandate under the garb of meaningless statutory rules which amounts to calculated fraud on the constitution.
The motive, reliable sources said, is to first recruit handpicked candidates on account of their political affiliations and proximities and then engage them on contractual basis on the pretext that such arrangements are needed to meet the exigencies. Then, these backdoor entrants thereafter allowed to continue on flimsy grounds till the government come up with a policy for their regularization.
Strangely, instead of terminating services of these backdoor entrants and referring the posts to recruitment agency for providing fair chance to every eligible candidates to compete for transparent selections, the JMC vide notice No JMC/Estt/3660-61 dated 10-11-2020 which published in the largest circulating English daily newspaper has invited objection for regularising services of 61 contractual employees which the notifications read as examined and found “eligible” under consideration zone by the “Empowered Committee” in terms of Class-IV Regulation 2014.
“Whatever be the mode adopted by the government to regularise these contractual picked up arbitrarily other than by holding a fair process of selection and providing fair opportunity to every eligible candidates, is nothing short of fraud on the constitution,” said an officer of JMC.
The authorities need to understand that public employment is not a bounty in the hands of the state which can be distributed by it arbitrarily and at its whims and caprice,” said one Rajinder Sharma and added that it is duty of the Govt to refrain from acting in a manner which is not countenance by law.
Since 1991, the H&UDD never fit it apt to advertise any posts for recruitment to cater to the burgeoning problems of JMC which kept multiplying everyday on account of acute shortage of employees to effectively look after its vast territories that has been swell from 25 ward to 75 in last three decades.
Principal Secretary H&UDD, Dheeraj Gupta while expressing ignorance on the issue said “So far, I am not aware of the issue but indeed will get it enquire from Commissioner JMC”