20-year recruitment deadlock in Agriculture Dept nearing resolution: Javed Dar

Srinagar, Oct 14: Jammu & Kashmir Agriculture Minister Javed Ahmad Dar on Wednesday said the government was working to resolve a nearly two-decade-old recruitment dispute in the Agriculture Department, including the proposed abolition of around 560 posts and changes in the recruitment quota, but acknowledged that pending court cases and administrative complications continued to delay fresh appointments.

Speaking exclusively to Kashmir News Service (KNS) amid protests by agriculture graduates at the Wadura campus over the delay in recruitment, Dar said the government had proposed restoring the 50:50 ratio between direct recruitment and departmental promotion in the gazetted cadre, while also pursuing measures to protect vacancies in the non-gazetted cadre.

The minister said the issue had remained unresolved for nearly 20 years and could not be settled immediately, although the government was making efforts to address the grievances of unemployed agriculture graduates.

“This is a 20-year-old issue. It has not been created overnight. Such an old issue will take some time to resolve,” Dar told KNS.