SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Thursday took a strong exception to a self-destructive stand taken by the JK Bank before the J&K High Court and asked it to declare long awaited results of a recently cancelled selection process, if it claims to be an autonomous financial institution with no interference from the government.
In a statement issued here, Bukhari said the argument of JK Bank’s counsel in a petition filed by the job aspirants seeking results, suggests that the JK Bank is not a State, nor an authority, or instrumentality of the State within the meaning of Article 12 of the constitution.
“If the JK Bank is really an autonomous financial institution as argued by its counsel, how come, it accepted the State Administrative Council (SAC) decision that left the hopes of lakhs of aspirants in tatters and demoralized those promising candidates who put their blood and sweat in the exams for consecutive two years?” Bukhari asked.
He said that lakhs of job aspiring youth from across Jammu and Kashmir had applied for different posts advertised by the JK Bank in 2018. “Even after conducting the examination in a very transparent and fair manner under Inter-Banking Personnel System (IBPS) for which the bank was lauded by the then Governor S.P Malik, why did the Bank management accepted scrapping of its selection process ordered by new dispensation using a pretext of legal infirmities?” Bukhari questioned.
He remarked that the ruthless decision of cancellation of selection process taken by the SAC without proper application of mind not only jeopardized the interests and functioning of the JK Bank but also dashed hopes of lakhs of qualified, jobless youth of J&K in a single go.
“Since the JK Bank has now claimed to be an autonomous body, who among the government and Bank management is responsible for sullying the careers of lakhs of youth of J&K? Who is going to compensate the job aspiring youth who appeared in the cancelled examination process for their over two years’ time? If there were any irregularities in the recruitment process, why didn’t the then government ask IBPS to upload results on their own website rather than handing the same to JK Bank immediately after the selection process concluded?” the JKAP president stressed.
Bukhari also asked that if there were any legal infirmities present in the advertisement, why didn’t the then government wind up the process during tier-1 itself and saved the time and energy of lakhs of youth who along with their families are still hopefully waiting for the results. “Everything comes with remedial measures. The present government should not make SAC decision a point of prestige and rectify its wrongs by declaring the results for the lakhs of aspirants who have pinned their expectations with the JK Bank selection list,” Bukhari demanded.
Meanwhile, the JKAP president demanded complete revocation of SRO 202 saying that the present government in J&K has continued with draconian provisions of this SRO which are detrimental to the interest of employees. “Although the government has amended the clause of SRO 202 thereby reducing the probation period from five to two years, the other controversial clauses in SRO continue to hang like Sword of Damocles over the employees in J&K,” he observed.
He said that the government should completely withdraw the SRO 202 as its other clauses refrain the government from providing the increments to the new employees for first two years of probation besides they will not be entitled for any allowances till their probation period is over.
“Similarly, the old appointees beside the recruits under new recruitment policy would be governed by the hostile clauses of SRO 202 making all such employees non-transferable at least for five years. If this SRO 202 continues, these employees would not be promoted in the first five years of their services as well. This is unprecedented and no such rules exist anywhere in the country except for J&K. This dichotomy needs to be removed forthwith,” Bukhari demanded.
The JKAP president said that by reducing the period of probation from five to two years only, the government has retained and continued with the harsh clauses of SRO 202 in the new recruitment policy. “The youth of J&K not only feel ditched by the present dispensation but seem to be genuine in nurturing apprehensions about double standards and contradictions in government of India’s approach towards people of J&K,” Bukhari said, while appealing the union home minister to intervene and alleviate these misgivings.
