J&K Bank reacts to allegations of discrimination in recruitment

SRINAGAR — Jammu & Kashmir Bank has responded to the allegation of discrimination in framing the recently issued shortlist for Probationary Officer posts.

The allegations have been levelled by Jammu based job applicants who say that the Bank has not done justice to them as far as difference between Jammu division and Kashmir division cut-off for the PO posts is concerned.

However, the Bank had clearly mentioned in its official job advertisement notification that the recruitment was to be carried out on district-wise basis.

“Post declaration of the results of the Bank’s Online recruitment test for the preliminary examination conducted by Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), Mumbai for the selection of Probationary Officers in the Bank, it has come to the notice of the Bank that there is a parochial attempt by some vested interests to misguide the applicants with baseless misinformation on the selection process being skewed to a particular district on the basis of merit cut off,” reads the notification issued by the Bank.

It further says, “It is clarified to the esteemed public in general and candidates in particular that the Bank has a Board approved policy for the recruitment of Officers (Probationary Officers) and Clerks (Banking Associates) wherein the process is kick-started by forecasting the vacancies district-wise to quantify the number of posts, followed by issuing of notification for soliciting applications clearly notifying that the vacancies are as per district-wise requirement followed by declaration of district-wise merit list and putting it in public domain.”

“The Bank has religiously adhered to the Board approved policy & process with absolute Transparency which can be gauged from the continuous communications through print & electronic media besides the efficiency with which the timelines for conduct of tests and declaration of results are being adhered to,” it adds.

It further says, “The cut off has been decided by the Bank on the basis of merit list provided by the IBPS and as per the geographic distribution of vacancies in each district of the state which has been communicated ab initio by the Bank at the time of issuance of first notification.”

“Immediately after declaration, the result has been placed on the Bank’s website to make it absolutely open to candidates for checking their assessment score vis a vis the cut off in their respective districts and scrutiny if any by the candidates,” the statement said.

The Bank reiterated that the recruitment process at J&K Bank is completely transparent and public in general & applicants in particular, should not fall prey to the misinformation campaign by some mischievous elements on social media by making assertions which are hypothetical, libelous and aimed at tarnishing the image of J&K Bank Brand.