JAMMU: “Justice should not only be done but also appear to have been done”, said Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP and former Minister, while interacting with a deputation of educated youth of Jammu comprising PhDs and MPhils who represented to him alleging huge regional bias in recruitments made by PSC in the recent past.
He said that the select lists of lecturers and Assistant Professors issued by the PSC during the last around two years as presented by the said delegation revealed abysmally low share of Jammu region in the said recruitments and demonstrated the highly biased nature of selections.
He said that it was ironical that despite a higher proportion of Jammu region candidates getting shortlisted for the purpose of interviews, their share in the final select lists was negligible. He regretted that the alleged bias and prejudice in the selections had not only demoralised the aspiring Jammu youth but sparked colossal outrage which needed immediate attention of the government and the PSC.
Lamenting the deprivation of Jammu youth in selections despite tall pronouncements of government on equitable treatment, Singh called upon the recruitment agencies to stop looking at Jammu youth with jaundiced eye.
He assured the educated youth that Panthers Party shall not remain a mute spectator to the injustice meted out on regional lines and would agitate the issue vociferously including protests outside the PSC headquarters. Sharing the statistics, Singh regretted that out of 34 candidates in History, nine belonged to Jammu region, seven candidates out of 26 in Physics, nine in Psychology out of 27 and likewise in other subjects.
The selected candidates mainly belonged to categories and the PSC had no option as SCs belonged to Jammu region only, he maintained. Singh also pointed out highly biased and obnoxious selections in Economics and Statistics Directorate, wherein out of 26 candidates selected for Junior Statistical Assistants only one belonged to Jammu region. He further divulged that in Health and Medical Education Department, out of 123 selections of consultants made by PSC in Radiology, Medicine, Opthalmology, ENT, Orthopaedics, Gynaecology, Pathology and Paediatrics only 23 belonged to Jammu region.
Asserting that discrimination against educated unemployed youth of Jammu region had aggravated during the BJP-PDP rule, Singh cautioned the mandated leaders of Jammu region to raise the voice to ensure justice to the youth by ensuring them a fair deal in the selection process. He said that the BJP leaders had already belied their hopes and aspirations by succumbing over the issue of ‘New Recruitment Policy’ providing for stipendiary mode of recruitment. He cautioned that with BJP Ministers still mum over the persistent disregard of Jammu youth, the volatile situation could explode any moment leading to irreparable damage for which the Saffron leaders would be squarely responsible.