SRINAGAR: Altaf Bukhari, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, has raised questions regarding recruitment processes within the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council and the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, specifically targeting the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The controversy, which has resurfaced amidst ongoing discussions about job outsourcing and alleged irregularities, points to a history of disputes concerning appointments in these key institutions.
The J&K Sports Council faced significant protests recently following the release of a final list for athletes selected under the sports quota policy. Athletes alleged that lower-category, non-Olympic sports disproportionately benefited from the recruitment process. Of the five gazetted posts, four were reportedly allotted to athletes from Pencak Silat, a non-Olympic category B sport, while an Olympian shooter received the remaining post. This distribution has drawn criticism from athletes in Olympic and Category A non-Olympic sports, who argue that their achievements and the competitiveness of their disciplines were overlooked.
The sports quota recruitment in Jammu and Kashmir has a history of being contentious. A decade-long freeze on such recruitments, which ended in 2014, had left many athletes in uncertainty. The recent notification aimed to fill backlog vacancies from 2014 to 2021, but the final selection list has reignited debates about fairness and the categorization of sports disciplines. Concerns have been raised about the relaxation of eligibility conditions, with reports indicating that some gazetted appointees had only completed Class 12 at the time of application, a criterion that was reportedly relaxed.
Separately, allegations of irregularities in recruitments at the J&K Bank have also been a recurring issue. In the past, the then-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, had alleged a scam involving the replacement of selected candidates with political appointees during the PDP-BJP government’s tenure. Reports from October 2018 indicated that the selection list for 582 candidates in the J&K Bank was allegedly changed to accommodate political workers. The bank’s then Chairman and CEO had countered these claims, stating the recruitment process was transparent and that waiting lists were cleared according to directions.
More recently, political discourse has seen exchanges between the National Conference (NC) and the PDP regarding recruitment scams. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, had criticized the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) for alleged discrepancies in recruitment exams, suggesting a nexus between power players and exam-conducting agencies. In response, NC spokesperson Ifra Jan accused the PDP of orchestrating the largest recruitment scam in J&K Bank’s history.
Altaf Bukhari’s current questioning of the PDP over these recruitments adds another layer to the ongoing political debate surrounding employment and selection processes in the region. The concerns raised by Bukhari underscore the persistent demand for transparency, fairness, and adherence to merit-based principles in public sector appointments within Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chenab Times News Desk