All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Secretaries are on a pen-down strike from 14 to 16 March 2023 to protest against the violation of the Panchayati Raj Act and harassment of Panchayat Secretaries. The All Jammu And Kashmir Panchayat Secretaries’ Joint Action Committee, supported by All J&K VLWs Association, has submitted a charter of demands to Commissioner Secretary, RD&PR, UT of J&K.
The demands of the committee include the rescinding of various orders issued in violation of J&K Panchayati Raj Act, the enhancement of Grade Pay of Panchayat Secretaries, the finalization of Service Subordinate Rules of RDD, and the filling up of vacant posts. They also seek the revision of the Transfer Policy of Panchayat Secretaries, the issuance of Job Chart for Panchayat Secretaries, and the updating of the designation of Panchayat Secretaries on various web-based employee portals.
The committee claims that their long-pending demands have not been fulfilled for decades, and they have been subjected to harassment. They assert that their workload has increased due to the implementation of the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution of India, and hence their Grade Pay needs to be enhanced from 1900 to 4200 (Pre-Revised) at par with other states of the country like Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, etc.
The recruitment of already advertised posts of Panchayat Secretaries by JKSSB needs to be taken on a fast-track basis to fill the vacancies in the department through Direct mode as well as speed up the process of filling other vacant posts through Promotional quota. This will help reduce the workload of Panchayat Secretaries who are currently assigned 3 to 4 Halqa Panchayats. The committee has also asked for the revision of the Transfer Policy of Panchayat Secretaries, which they deem as novel and cruel.
The Job Chart of Panchayat Secretaries needs to be updated and issued immediately so that the hierarchy at the Panchayat level is determined for the smooth functioning of the Panchayat Secretariat at the ground level. They have also asked for the updating of the designation of Panchayat Secretaries on all Government portals.
The committee has urged the authorities to take their demands seriously and resolve the issues at the earliest to avoid any further inconvenience to the people.
This report is filed by Farid Ahmed Naik for The Chenab Times from J&K’s Doda
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Farid Ahmed Naik is Executive Editor for The Chenab Times and first Sarazi language news reporter. He also covers Crime and Politics on CT. Read More…