Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Friday cancelled the recruitment of 1,200 police sub-inspectors as the government’s first big recruitment drive since the 2019 scrapping of special status threw up a scam, testing the promise of clean governance post-370.
Bowing to protests over allegations of large-scale corruption in the recruitment exams, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha cancelled the merit list and ordered a CBI investigation.
The action came after a probe panel headed by R.K. Goyal, additional chief secretary (home), Jammu and Kashmir, submitted its report. Officials said the panel had found rampant corruption in the merit list released by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board last month.
“JKP Sub-Inspector recruitment has been cancelled & a CBI probe has been recommended into the selection process. Culprits will be brought to justice soon. It’s a first big step towards securing the future of our youth and the government will soon decide the future course of action for fresh recruitment,” Sinha tweeted.
So final verdict has come from the house of @OfficeOfLGJandK
— Rameshwar Singh Thakur
JKP Sub-Inspector recruitment has been cancelled & a CBI probe has been recommended into the selection process & govt will soon decide future course of action for fresh recruitment.#jkpsi #Jammu(@Rameshwar_101) July 8, 2022
Around one lakh graduates and postgraduates had taken the exams, held after years of wait. But candidates took to the streets soon after the results were announced, alleging a paper leak to benefit a few favourites.
Months earlier, Sinha had had to consent to another CBI probe after former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik alleged he had been offered a Rs 300-crore bribe during his tenure to clear files relating to “Ambani” and an “RSS-affiliated man”.
Such allegations have dented the Centre’s claims that Article 370 provisions had been scrapped to rid the region of its “corrupt” politicians and usher in clean and transparent administration.
The recruitment scam comes amid an unemployment crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, another headache for the administration.
The latest data from the private research body Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy puts the unemployment rate for June in Jammu and Kashmir at 17.2 per cent, the third highest after Haryana and Rajasthan. In March, the figure was 25 per cent.
After scrapping the special status in August 2019, the administration had promised to fill 50,000 vacancies in government departments within three months. Three years on, not many posts have been filled.
