jammu , Jan 15: A Sub Committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the issues of ladakh met today in New Delhi and almost finalized the issues pertaining to both gazetted and non-gazetted recruitments in the Union Territory of Ladakh with Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) finalized as the Authority for clearing all backlog recruitments of gazetted cadre followed by a decision on whether the UT will have own PSC or will be affiliated with JKPSC or UPSC.The Sub Committee will meet again on February 15.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh chairperson Tashi Gyalson told the Excelsior on telephone from New Delhi after attending the meeting that a consensus was reached on recruitments in the gazetted cadre in the UT of Ladakh in the Sub Committee meeting held in the MHA today.
“All pending gazetted cadre recruitments will be made by the UPSC and then a decision will be taken about recruitment agency for Ladakh whether the UT will have its own dedicated PSC or will affiliate with Jammu and Kashmir PSC. The immediate concern is that recruitment process should start for Ladakh,” the Hill Council Leh chief said.
Since Ladakh was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and made a Union Territory on August 5, 2019, no gazetted cadre recruitments have been made in the absence of a PSC. There has been a demand from almost all bodies of Ladakh for age relaxation in the recruitments due to prolonged delay in advertisement of vacancies. The age relaxation demand is likely to be conceded by the UT administration, the sources said.
On 95 percent reservations for locals, 80 percent will go to STs, 4 percent to Actual Line of Control (ALC), 10 per cent to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), one percent to SCs and five percent to others but they too will be domiciles of Ladakh.
“A blueprint for domicile will be ready within the next few days,” he said. The non-gazetted recruitments in Ladakh UT were conducted on the basis of LRC (Ladakh Resident Certificate), which was replica of State Subject used in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir of which Ladakh was third division besides Jammu and Kashmir.
As far as recruitment for the non-gazetted posts are concerned, the LAHDC Leh chairperson said the Recruitment Board for UT is now in place and divisional cadre posts which were earlier filled by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) will be made by the Board while district cadre posts will continue to be filled by the Hill Development Councils.
Tashi expressed confidence that after completion of all formalities, the process for recruitment will be set in motion as early as possible.
The Sub Committee meeting was attended by Advisor to Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Pawan Kotwal, senior officers of MHA including those dealing with the UT of Ladakh, Lok Sabha member Mohammad Haneefa Jan, CECs of Leh and Kargil Hill Development Councils including Tashi Gyalson and Dr Zaffar Akhoon and three members each from Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).
Thupstan Chhewang, Chering Dorjay Lakruk and Nawang Rigzin Jora represented LAB while Qamar Ali Akhoon, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Kargili attended meeting on behalf of KDA.
Next meeting of the Sub Committee has been fixed for February 15 and by then the MHA officials as well as representatives of ladakh are confident that headway will be made on recruitments.
LAB and KDA have been agitating for four-point agenda including Statehood, Sixth Schedule status, dedicated PSC and two Parliamentary seats for Ladakh. While there was almost breakthrough on recruitment, there has been no response from the MHA on Statehood and Sixth Schedule status. As far as two Parliamentary seats for Ladakh are concerned, the LAB and KDA have been told that this can be done only after delimitation for Lok Sabha seats is taken up after 2026.
