Srinagar, Aug 11 (KNO): More than 3,300 non-gazetted employees serving in the five Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) established in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 are facing prolonged career stagnation as the Service Recruitment Rules (SRRs) governing their posts remain pending, with the All India Registered Nurses Federation (AIRNF), J&K UT Committee, warning of an indefinite strike from August 17 if the matter is not addressed.
The affected workforce includes nursing, paramedical, clerical, and multitasking staff who have been serving the newly established medical institutions for several years.
Employees say that despite their continued contribution to patient care and the functioning of the colleges, they have not been provided a clear mechanism for promotion or career progression.
Speaking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), AIRNF J&K UT Committee State President Vishav Sharma said employees had joined the new medical colleges with the expectation that they would receive service benefits and promotional opportunities similar to those available to their counterparts in established GMCs.
"During recruitment, we were expecting that there would be similar rules as we have in the existing GMC Jammu and GMC Srinagar. But after two years of recruitment, we came to know that the government was planning different rules," Sharma said.
He questioned how different Government Medical Colleges within the same Union Territory could have substantially different service conditions for employees performing similar duties. "One can question how, in one UT, there can be different rules for different GMCs," he said.
According to Sharma, the prolonged delay in finalising the SRRs has resulted in employees remaining on the same posts for years without access to regular promotional processes. He said the problem had become more serious as new units, laboratories, and other healthcare services were being introduced at the medical colleges without a corresponding increase in manpower.
Employees have particularly raised concerns about the absence of Departmental Promotion Committees (DPCs), saying that many who have completed several years of service have not seen a single promotion exercise. The federation has also pointed to an alleged disparity between employees of the new GMCs and their counterparts in established institutions, in which eligible employees become entitled to promotion after completing the prescribed period of regular service.
Sharma said employees had made repeated efforts to resolve the matter through representations and meetings but had not received a concrete solution. "We have made strenuous efforts to solve this issue, but failed. We are now going for an indefinite strike from August 17 to press for our demands," he said.
The federation has urged Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Minister Sakina Itoo and senior officials to intervene immediately. Among its demands, the federation has sought immediate framing and finalisation of SRRs for all non-gazetted employees, conduct of DPCs for all eligible employees, a time-bound mechanism for completing the process, and consideration of retrospective promotional avenues with consequential benefits.
Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, in a post on X, said that more than 3,317 non-gazetted employees working in the new GMCs had been waiting for SRRs since 2019. "7 YEARS. NO SRRs. NO PROMOTIONS. NO CAREER GROWTH," Mufti said.
MLA Doda, Mehraj Malik also raised the issue, saying, "This may seem like a small administrative issue, but for the employees it means the possibility of serving their entire career on a single post," appealing to the J&K Government to take up the matter on priority—(KNO)