Srinagar, Mar 25: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday said that the existing transfer policy for non-gazetted employees is flexible and allows for necessary relaxations, particularly on health grounds.
In a reply to a question tabled by MLA Irfan Hafiz Lone during the ongoing Assembly session, the government also clarified the JKAS cadre structure, mutual transfers, and concerns regarding the exclusion of junior JKAS officers from the General Administration Department’s (GAD) official website.
The government said that transfers are conducted in the interest of administrative efficiency but acknowledged that relaxations are granted in justified cases.
It said that no rigid transfer policy is in place and provisions already exist to consider employee convenience, as long as it does not affect government work.
Regarding the JKAS cadre, the government confirmed that 50% of time-scale posts are filled through promotion from junior scale officers, while the remaining 50% come from departmental feeding services. This structure was modified under SRO 256 of 2016 to ensure an equal distribution between direct recruits and departmental promotions.
On the issue of junior JKAS officers not being listed on the GAD website, the government explained that their postings are managed by their respective departments until they are inducted into the time-scale of JKAS. To prevent inconsistencies, their names are not included in the online civil list, though the latest seniority list has been uploaded on the official website.
The government also clarified that there is no official designation of “Deputy Collector” in J&K, but equivalent posts exist as per Government Order No. 409-GAD of 1998.
