Out of 587, ZERO Open Merit posts to Srinagar

Srinagar: The most recent job advertisement by the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB), the apex recruiting body, has come up as a shocker to unemployed candidates in Kashmir who see it as an ‘unfair allotment of jobs’ and ‘an injustice’ to those falling under Open Merit (OM) category in this division.
In its latest job notification no. 4 of 2015 dated August 10, out of the total 587 posts, the JKSSB has advertised zero posts in open merit (OM) category both in division cadre Kashmir and district Srinagar. Overall under state, division and district cadres, Kashmir has only been given 33 OM posts out of 198 posts.
In comparison, Jammu as a region has been clearly favored as it has bagged a total number of 358 posts in division and district cadres excluding the 31 posts under state cadre. Under OM category, Jammu as a region has been allotted 89 posts. As a district alone, Jammu has been given 73 posts out of which 30 are in OM.
“For educated, unemployed youth of Kashmir, this job notification is meaningless especially for those in open merit category and hailing from Srinagar, it is sheer injustice and unfair pooling between two regions,” says Irshad Ahmad, a post graduate in English and a job aspirant.
“I am from Srinagar, there is no post for me in this and countless other educated youth,” says a disgruntled Shabir Ahmad, another aspirant from Hawal Srinagar.
Many other youth from Srinagar echoed the same while observing that the earlier job notifications by JKSSB have been on a similar pattern in which Kashmir division generally and Open Merit category specifically have been intentionally left out.
The government departments advertising these posts include General Administration, Power Development, CAPD, Health and Medical Education, PHE, Planning and Development, Agriculture production, Revenue, Finance, Rural Development, Animal Husbandry, and Education.
The preceding job notifications more or less follow a similar pattern. In notification no. 1 of 2015, Jammu division had bagged 121 posts as compared to just 30 posts to Kashmir. In notification no. 2 of 2015, Jammu again took the lead with 92 posts as against the 53 that went to Kashmir.
Last year in notice 03 of 2014 dated 30-12-2014, OM category was the worst hit as alone in Srinagar, out of the 80 posts advertised, none was under open merit. Jammu division had been the favourite in it as well as it managed to get 171 as compared to mere 37 that went to division Kashmir.
This is not for the first time that the JKSSB has come under scanner. Earlier in 2014 as well, a job notification had advertised 665 posts in which only 63 were under OM. Moreover, JKSSB was surprisingly looking for 16 Along the Line of Control (ALC) candidates from district Srinagar even though the district was miles away from any LoC.
Even after repeated attempts, Chairperson JKSSB Dev Lata was not available for comments.