Reorganization proposal awaits Finance Deptt decision
*Executive Officer crisis worsens in Municipalities
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 10: Thousands of workers engaged in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across Jammu and Kashmir continue to remain in job uncertainty even after rendering service for up to two decades as the Government has failed to specify any timeframe for their regularization, while the acute shortage of Executive Officers in Municipalities is also yet to be addressed.
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As per the official figures, 2,696 Consolidated Paid Workers (CPWs) are presently working in 76 Urban Local Bodies across the Union Territory, including 1,349 sanitation workers and 1,347 workers in other categories. Many of these workers have been serving continuously for 15 to 20 years, but their long-pending demand for regularization remains undecided.
“Since the Urban Local Body Institutions (Management) Service Recruitment Rules notified under SRO 417 dated December 18, 2008 do not contain any provision for regularization of Daily Wagers, CPWs or Casual Labourers, a proposal for their regularization as a one-time relaxation is under examination during the past quite long time”, sources said.
However, no timeline has been indicated for taking a final decision on the proposal, leaving thousands of workers in prolonged uncertainty despite decades of service.
Sources said that instead of a clear decision, the issue has effectively been pushed into procedural limbo as the reorganization proposal of Urban Local Bodies prepared by the Housing and Urban Development Department is presently under consideration of the Finance Department.
While the Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation have separate regulations governing regularization of casual and daily wage workers–the Jammu Municipal Corporation Class-IV Services (Special Provision) Regulations, 2014 and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation Class-IV Services (Special Provision) Regulations, 2014, the majority of workers in other Urban Local Bodies continue to wait for a policy decision.
Under these regulations, workers who have completed more than seven years of continuous service are assessed for regularization. In the Jammu Municipal Corporation, the process for regularization of 46 casual labourers who have completed seven years of service has already been initiated.
At the same time, the functioning of several Municipalities across the Union Territory is being adversely affected due to the severe shortage of Executive Officers.
Against 74 sanctioned posts of Chief Executive Officers/ Executive Officers in Urban Local Bodies as per SRO 417 of 2008, the department currently has only 31 Executive Officers available, leaving a large number of Municipalities without full-time administrative heads, sources informed.
Because of the shortage, many Urban Local Bodies are being managed either by giving additional charge to Executive Officers of adjoining Municipalities or by assigning the responsibility to officers of the district administration.
As per the J&K Urban Local Body Institutions (Management) Service Recruitment Rules, 30 percent of Executive Officer posts are to be filled through direct recruitment and 70 percent through promotion from feeder cadres such as Food Inspectors, Assistant Sanitation Officers, Secretaries/Section Officers, Revenue Officers and Khilafwarzi Officers with at least five years of substantive service.
“All posts under the direct recruitment quota have already been filled, while the vacancies under the promotion quota will be filled only when officers in the feeder cadres meet the eligibility criteria”, an officer of the Housing and Urban Development Department said while expressing inability to specify any timeline in this regard. “This means many Municipalities will continue to function with temporary arrangements”, sources remarked.
“With both the regularization of thousands of workers and the shortage of Executive Officers linked to proposals pending with the Finance Department, the issues appear to be stuck in a bureaucratic loop, with the responsibility effectively shifting between the Housing and Urban Development Department and the Finance Department while thousands of workers and several Urban Local Bodies continue to wait for a decisive resolution”, sources said.
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