Key positions remain vacant at DSEK

'Time bound promotions, regularisation, transition of teachers delayed'

Syed Rizwan Geelani

Srinagar, Mar 7: Official work has got hit as the key positions continue to remain vacant at the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK).

Besides the delay in taking administrative decisions, the files of the teachers and other employees are gathering dust in the directorate as the post of Personal Officer (PO) is vacant in the directorate for the last more than three months.

An official said the regularisation and transition of teachers besides other issues pertaining to the teaching community have hit a roadblock in absence of the PO at the directorate.

Notably, the former PO at the Directorate was transferred on December 5, 2022 and no replacement has been made till date, causing delay in the delivery of files. Besides the PO, the Directorate is without a Joint Director (JD) elementary education as the incumbent was attached to the administrative department over ‘mis-presentation of facts’ regarding validity of Post-graduate degrees obtained through distance mode. The teachers said the vacant position of PO has a delay in getting their regularisation files processed, much to their inconvenience.

"Hundreds of teachers are waiting for their regularisation but the files are gathering dust. Besides other teachers, a teacher from Ganderbal district whose father is suffering from acute disease, is also waiting for his regularisation. If the files will be cleared earlier, it will bring a sigh of relief for the teaching community," a delegation of teachers complained to Greater Kashmir. The teachers said the PO also looks after the assignment of Deputy Director planning and is a vital cog in the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC). "Around 500 conversion files of RReTs who are to be transitioned into Grade II and Grade III are lying unattended in the office for want of a Personal Officer," another teacher said.

The teachers said the files pertaining to time bound promotions have been affected as well. "The issue has been brought into the notice of authorities but till date nothing concrete has been done in this regard," the teachers said.

The teachers said they apprised the J&K Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on February 2 about the issue and said they were given assurances that the post will be filled very soon. "But nothing has been done till now," he said. The Principal Secretary School Education Department (SED) Alok Kumar when contacted acknowledged that the work has got hit due to the vacant position of Personal Officer at DSEK. "But we have taken up the matter with the General Administration Department and are hopeful that the new PO is posted in a shortest possible time," Alok Kumar told Greater Kashmir.