SRINAGAR: Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid emphasis on doing away with interviews for non-gazetted posts, the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, of which his party BJP is a part, has decided to conduct both written and oral tests for junior-level government jobs in the State.
Commissioner Secretary to the government Gazzanfar Hussain, in a notification issued on Friday, said that in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 124 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, the government directs that in all gazetted and subordinate services recruitment rules governing different services/posts under the government except where a written test has already been provided, a necessary provision shall be introduced at an appropriate place in the rules relating to the qualification and method of recruitment.
“The Selection Committee/Board shall conduct written tests for all the posts advertised. The Board/Selection Committee shall, based on the merit obtained by the candidates in the written test conducted in terms of clause (a), prepare a merit list of candidates and on the basis of merit obtained by the candidates in the written test, conduct an oral test, which may be restricted to five times the number of posts advertised,” he said.
Gazzanfar said the Selection Committee should prepare a select list equal to the number of posts/vacancies for which requisition was made by the requisitioning authority on the basis of aggregate merit obtained by candidates in the written and the oral tests.
The government refers to its recruiting agency, the Services Selection Board (SSB), all non-gazetted posts including accounts assistants, teachers, patwaris, supervisors, junior engineers, stenographers, draftsmen and drivers.
In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to abolish the requirement of interviews for lower-rank jobs in the Central government, saying it bred corruption and the poor were being looted by ‘dalals’ (middlemen).