J&K Edu Deptt’s Draft Transfer Policy Serve one year in Zone III, get choicest posting for 2 years

VIVEK SHARMA
JAMMU: Any employee of the J&K Education department who will serve in Zone III which includes Leh and other higher reaches of the State for one year will necessarily be given posting of preference for two years.
Moreover, on every promotion, an official will be posted to the difficult areas, suggests the new draft transfer policy which the government has framed, to seek comments.
After getting the feedback from all stakeholders, the government will notify this transfer policy draft, for effecting transfers in the Education department, states the proposed draft issued on Tuesday.
To provide quality education to all, including in the most far-flung places of the State and in order to address concerns of the employees of the School Education department including teachers, masters and lecturers, the government has proposed a new policy for effecting transfers in the department.
The draft policy says, “In order to maintain constancy during the academic session there shall be no mid-term transfers. Ordinarily, the schedule for transfers in summer zone shall be 1st April to 30th June and in the winter zone from 1st November to 31st January.”
However, in view of different academic years for the Summer Zone and the Winter Zone, this would not apply when the transfer involves change from one Zone to another. This shall  also not apply to postings of officials upon their promotion, revocation of suspension, resumption of duties after training/leave or on issues related to performance as well as rationalization.
Further, transfers in respect of Ladakh region, shall be in accordance with the policy laid down by the Ladakh Affairs Department.
Since, the concern of a teaching staff member is essentially of non-displacement from the place of residence or continuation of the same place of residence for a minimum period of time, the tenure shall be viewed with reference to the place where the employee is required to maintain his residence. A teaching staff member may be transferred from one school to another at the end of an academic year on cogent reasons including performance of the official, school results, enrollment, rationalization, administrative measures like subject specific requirements, pooling of posts rather than having specific sanctioned posts borne on a particular school, etc. However, subject to above, to the extent possible, the tenure shall be in one school only.
The tenure would ordinarily be two years and maximum three years. However, the tenure in respect of Zone-Ill areas shall be one year for any person, not otherwise resident of that area or not belonging to the said district cadre.
Various posts shall be viewed with reference to the requirement of change or residence or otherwise -zone I where the employee does not need to change his residence and zone II where the employee is required to change his residence. In usual course, an employee would be rotated between these two Zones, subject to availability of posts.
In addition, there will be Zone III which will comprise of difficult locations within the State that is Ladakh and higher reaches of the State. The tenure for any person, not otherwise resident of Zone III or not belonging to the district cadre of that district, will be only one year. Further, after an official serves in Zone III, he/she will necessarily be given posting of preference in Zone I for two years.
On promotion, an official is likely to be posted to the difficult areas, whether immediately or later, unless specifically excluded by the Administrative Department.
Official recruited from areas that give reservation benefit shall ordinarily be required to serve the prescribed period in such areas. Special consideration shall he accorded, subject to administrative efficacy, as follows:
To the extent feasible, the spouses shall be posted in the same general area.
In case of marriage, inter-cadre transfer of lady official shall be allowed provided they have served five year in their parent (district/divisional) cadre. However, this would be subject to availability of vacancies and department’s requirements.
To the extent possible, married lady officials with young children would be posted such that they can return back to their home after duty.
Subject to the availability of posts, officials with specially-abled children would be posted at a place near to his/her place of residence.
The officials attaining age of superannuation within one year, shall be preferably posted at a place close to where they intend to settle down after retirement.
For transfer on medical grounds of self, spouse or dependent children, the recommendations of the Standing Medical Board would be pre-requisite. The Board shall clearly indicate whether the medical condition requires any concession. The same shall be valid only for two years and if any continuation is required, fresh certification will be necessary. However, in respect of life consuming/terminal disease of the official, no fresh certification shall be required.
Posting on security concerns shall be made only after considering such recommendations received from the ADG (CID) and that too, only for two years.
Inter-cadre mutual transfers shall be considered on reciprocal basis with the condition that the concerned officials shall have qualification with similar academic background and they shall have to serve a minimum tenure of two years at the place where the official is posted on reciprocal transfer. However, neither teachers due for promotion as masters shall be considered for mutual transfer nor officials selected under RBA/ALC category unless they complete their term of seven years in RBA/ALC area as required under the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004.
For intra-district transfers (of teachers) the following principles would be followed, subject to feasibility: a) Postings shall be alternated between the urban areas and rural areas. All towns and notified areas shall be treated as urban areas for this purpose.
b) Inter zonal (education zone) transfers shall be effected to bring in administrative efficiency.
c) No officials shall be posted to any school where he/she has served over the past 5 years or any of the immediately preceding two postings.
Moreover, postings shall be made keeping in view the enrollment in the schools.
In case of staff becoming surplus in a school/institution as a result of rationalization the surplus shall be transferred without taking into consideration the period of stay.
In respect of model schools as also those schools that have maintained high standards of education, the teaching staff shall be posted such that the standards are not compromised, even if the same is in exception to the general policy.
As far as possible, official posted on administrative posts of
CEO, Dy.CEO, DEPO, ZEO and ZEPO shall be posted on transfer to an equivalent post in the teaching faculty, states the draft policy. The government has sought the comments/suggestions on the draft policy from all the stakeholders.