Srinagar, Sep 02 (KNO): As the Service Selection Board, the recruiting agency for non-gazetted and Class IV posts, has advertised 2800 vacancies, there is a growing demand from unemployed educated youth to abolish the maximum educational qualification bar for Class IV appointments.
As per a notification issued during the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led PDP–Congress government, the minimum and maximum qualifications for Class IV posts were fixed as matriculation and 12th standard, respectively.
As per the new agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), “In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Section 124 of the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir and in suppression of all rules/orders pertaining to the recruitment of Class IV posts, the Governor hereby directs that the minimum and maximum qualification for appointment to Class IV posts under direct recruitment shall be matriculation and 10+2, respectively,” reads SRO 99 of 2008 dated April 7, 2008.
The Appointment to Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules issued in 2020 during Central rule in the Union Territory also retained the qualifications prescribed in 2008.
“The Board shall invite applications for the said posts from persons who are domiciles of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and are within the prescribed age and possess the minimum and maximum qualification as prescribed in notification SRO-99 of 2008,” reads S.O. 184 issued by the General Administration Department on June 4, 2020.
The restriction deprives tens of thousands of graduates from applying for these posts. Official data shows that more than 25000 students graduate annually from colleges and universities across J&K. Thousands more complete postgraduate, professional, and technical courses each year. Yet they remain ineligible to apply, as those possessing graduation or higher qualifications are barred under the existing rules.
The Ladakh Union Territory had recently done away with the maximum qualification bar for class IVth posts.
According to figures revealed by the J&K Government in the Assembly last year, one-third of the total registered unemployed youth comprises graduates and postgraduates. Of them, 66628 are graduates and 47114 are postgraduates—(KNO)