In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the health department has over 6,000 vacant gazetted and non-gazetted positions.
A status report submitted by the Deputy Secretary to Government, Health and Medical Education Department, dated May 29, 2023, states that the Jammu division has 3,200 open positions, compared to 2,700 in the Kashmir division.
According to the report, out of the 6868 non-gazetted and Class IV Employees with a sanctioned strength of 4379 positions in Jammu Division, only 2489 positions are occupied. The total sanctioned strength of medical officers for all ten districts in Jammu division is 1,390 posts, of which 726 are filed and 664 were lying vacant.
Only 72 of the 1,395 medical officer jobs in the Kashmir division are unfilled; in contrast, out of the 8,628 non-gazetted and Class IV employee positions authorised, 5,976 positions are filled and 2651 positions are unfilled.
Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice MA Chowdhary, who sit on a division bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, have ordered the J&K administration to put the actions it has taken to fill open positions for medical officers, non-gazetted employees, and class IV employees in the health department throughout Jammu & Kashmir on record.
The division bench said, “In light of the foregoing, we direct the respondent authorities to indicate the steps taken to fill up a significant number of vacancies in respect of medical officers as well as the non-gazetted and class IV employees in Jammu division as well as Kashmir division.”
“Let an affidavit be used to formally document the same. The affidavit must also include the actions done with regard to the remote districts of Reasi, Poonch, Ramban, Kupwara, and Baramulla, among others, where there seem to be major job openings, it was instructed.
The top court set August 28 as the deadline for the state to “without fail” submit its affidavit-based answer. (KNO)
