With opposition continuing its attack regarding outsourcing of jobs, the National Conference (NC) led government on Sunday dismissed the allegations of malpractices in recruitment, saying the process of outsourcing for jobs was started before they came to power.
The government targeted the opposition for its allegation of “backdoor appointments” in J&K since 2024, reminding the PDP of alleged recruitment scams in J&K Bank and Khadi Village Industries in their time.
The opposition, particularly PDP, have targeted the government for engaging manpower through private agencies instead of filling vacancies through regular recruitment channels. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has accused the NC govt of filling 25,000 jobs through “backdoors” since 2024.
Responding to the accusations, J&K ministers Sakina Itoo and Javid Dar, and advisor to the chief minister, Nasir Aslam Wani addressed a press conference in Srinagar.
“Jammu and Kashmir government has started a transparent recruitment process after it came to power in 2024. And as per rules, we have tried to fill the vacancies through recruitment agencies in a phased manner. And the mission of filling 40,000 vacancies will be fulfilled soon,” Wani said.
He said that “outsourcing” was a PDPs legacy started by Mehbooba Mufti.
“As far as outsourcing is concerned, there are attempts to confuse people. We have inherited this process from our previous government led by PDP who are targeting us now for this without any basis. This is their legacy. They led us to the revocation of Article 370, statehood and bifurcation of state. Along with that, this ‘outsourcing’ of jobs is also their giving,” he said.
He said that the outsourcing process started between 2015-18 as per a policy. “Till that time, there was a system in place by which administrative departments would hire people on a seasonal basis. And they (PDP) discarded that system and started the outsourcing process,” he said.
Wani accused the previous PDP government of scams in J&K bank and Khadi Village Industries recruitments.
“We challenge their figures. There are no such numbers which they are saying have happened through the backdoor. We can give many examples of theirs with proof and many of them are under scrutiny in courts and agencies are also probing how many backdoor entries have happened like in J&K Bank, Khavi Village Industries and at other places. And they have not answered those things till now,” Wani said.
He said that regular recruitment and outsourcing are two different things. “Recruitment is happening smoothly in a transparent manner. Outsourcing is taking place over and above the sanctioned strength of any department. It is a seasonal arrangement and ends with the required work. It is not a regular govt appointment. There is not a single example with proof that we have made any backdoor recruitment,” he said.
“These agencies (recruiting) come from an official portal in a transparent method with proper tender process.And in all this the policy is followed by the PDP government led by Mehbooba Mufti between 2015-18,” he said.
Education minister Sakina Itoo said that outsourced jobs are not permanent recruitments but temporary administrative arrangements to meet extra work load as and when the need arises.
“All the outsourced jobs are all centrally sponsored schemes. This is not UT based.The outsourcing framework has been introduced in 2015-18 not by our govt but their govt. The departments started to outsource jobs through different agencies from 2016,” she said.
Agriculture minister Javid Ahmad Dar said that public was being misled about the strength of posts.
“ While outsourcing hiring is happening, at the same time (permanent) posts are being referred to recruitment agencies. Outsourcing is happening with regard to sponsored schemes of government of India. This happens across the country, in all states like ours,” Dar said.
Iltija Mufti questions government
PDP leader Iltija Mufti on Sunday accused J&K government of spending crores of rupees on outsourcing of jobs.
“Our simple questions to the J&K government:Why are hundreds of crores being spent on outsourcing jobs to private companies? Who selected these companies and what was the selection process? On what basis are people being recruited without a transparent merit-based process? Will the government make these contracts and recruitment details public?,’ she said.
