No change in civil service cadre of J&K, Ladakh

New Delhi: The members of the cadres of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS) for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir shall continue to function on the existing cadres even after the creation of new Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh on Thursday.

The provisional strength, composition and allocation of officers currently borne on the existing cadre of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh shall be such as the Lieutenant Governor of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir may, by order, determine, mentions the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.

The Act reads that the members of each of these services, currently borne on the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, shall be allocated between the successor Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh.

The appointment of the officers will be with effect from Thursday in a manner as the Central Government may, by order, specify on the recommendation of Lieutenant Governors of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir; and Union territory of Ladakh.

The officers so allocated to both the Union Territories shall function within these Union Territories, in accordance with the rules framed by the Centre.

In future, the All India Service officers to be posted to Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir or Union territory of Ladakh, as the case may be, shall be borne on the Arunachal Goa Mizoram Union Territory cadre, and necessary modifications in corresponding cadre allocations rules may be made accordingly, by the Centre.

The Act, which got President assent on August 9 just four days after it was moved in Parliament by the Centre, said that every person who immediately before the appointed day was serving on substantive basis in connection with the affairs of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir shall, on and from that day provisionally continue to serve in connection with the affairs of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh, by general or special order of the Lieutenant Governor of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Every direction issued after the expiry of a period of one year from the appointed day shall be issued with the consultation of the Government or Administration of the successor Union Territories.

The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir shall, by general or special order, determine the successor Union territory to which every person shall be finally allotted for service, after consideration of option received by seeking option from the employees, and the date with effect from which such allotment shall take effect.

Even after the allocation has been made, Lieutenant Governor of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir may in order to meet any deficiency in the service, depute officers from one successor Union territory to the other Union territory.

Every person who is finally allotted to a successor Union territory shall, if he is not already serving therein, be made available for serving in the successor Union territory from such date as may be agreed upon between the government of the successor Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Administration of Union territory of Ladakh, or, in default of such agreement, as may be determined by the Centre.

The Centre shall have the power to review any of its orders issued.
Every person who, immediately before the appointed day, is holding or discharging the duties of any post or office in connection with the affairs of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in any area which on that day falls within one of the successor Union Territories shall continue to hold the same post or office in that successor Union territory, and shall be deemed to have been duly appointed to the post or office by the government of, or other appropriate authority, that successor Union Territory.

The employees of State Public Sector Undertakings, corporations and other autonomous bodies shall continue to function in such undertaking, corporation or autonomous bodies for a period of one year and during this period the corporate body concerned shall determine the modalities for distributing the personnel between the successor Union Territories.

The Public Service Commission for the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir shall, on and from the appointed day, be the Public Service Commission for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Union Public Service Commission, with the approval of the President, shall serve the needs of the Union territory of Ladakh.

The persons holding office immediately before the appointed day as the Chairman or other member of the Public Service Commission for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir shall, as from the appointed day, be the Chairman or, as the case may be, the other members of the Public Service Commission for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, said the Act.