SRINAGAR — With the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board advertising around 2,800 vacancies for non-gazetted and Class IV posts, a growing demand has emerged from unemployed educated youth to abolish the maximum educational qualification prescribed for Class IV appointments.
Under SRO 99 of 2008, issued on April 7, 2008, during the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led PDP-Congress government, the minimum and maximum qualifications for direct recruitment to Class IV posts were fixed at matriculation and 10+2, respectively.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Section 124 of the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir and in suppression of all rules/orders pertaining to the recruitment of Class IV posts, the Governor hereby directs that the minimum and maximum qualification for appointment to Class IV posts under direct recruitment shall be matriculation and 10+2, respectively,” the notification reads, according to news agency KNO.
The Appointment to Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules issued in 2020 during Central rule in the Union Territory retained the qualification criteria prescribed in the 2008 notification.
“The Board shall invite applications for the said posts from persons who are domiciles of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and are within the prescribed age and possess the minimum and maximum qualification as prescribed in notification SRO-99 of 2008,” reads S.O. 184 issued by the General Administration Department on June 4, 2020.
The existing restriction means candidates with graduation or higher qualifications are ineligible for Class IV posts, according to the source material.
The restriction has become a concern for unemployed educated youth, as more than 25,000 students graduate annually from colleges and universities across Jammu and Kashmir, while thousands more complete postgraduate, professional and technical courses each year.
Figures presented by the J&K Government in the Assembly last year showed that graduates and postgraduates account for one-third of the total registered unemployed youth. Of these, 66,628 were graduates and 47,114 were postgraduates.
The demand for removing the maximum qualification bar has also gained attention after the Union Territory of Ladakh recently did away with the maximum educational qualification restriction for Class IV posts.
