As the Peoples Democratic Party-led government is facing charges of nepotism and favouritism in recruitments, a senior PDP leader and general secretary of the party defended controversial selection, describing it as free and fair.
‘Where will our children go. They can also qualify. They have also right to appear in the exams’
As the Peoples Democratic Party-led government is facing charges of nepotism and favouritism in recruitments, a senior PDP leader and general secretary of the party defended controversial selection, describing it as free and fair.
“Let it be investigated by a judge from International Court of Justice”, Peerzada Mansoor, general secretary of the party and vice-chairman of the Khadi Village Industries Board (KVIB), said.
Opposition National Conference (NC) says chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's nephew and other people figuring in the final list issued by the KVIB are either the children of close associates of PDP leaders or have direct patronage from the powers that be.
Mansoor, however, said in the entire history of the KVIB the present selection was fair and impartial. He said since the Board was formed, all the selections, except the present one, were fraud and through the back door. He said sons of several ministers appeared in the examination and they couldn't qualify. He said if the party vice-president Sartaj Madni’s son Aroot Madni got recruited, he has every right to. Aroot is the nephew of the Chief Minister.
Addressing press conference, he said, Aroot has got 51 numbers in the written and 24 in the interview. He said other candidates also got similar marks.
“It is open for all. Let a judge come from International Court of Justice to check this”, he said with all seriousness. He said it was for the first time the present government initiated the process and hired an agency to conduct recruitment for 101 posts.
“And the agency did it in an impartial manner”, he said. He said the list became a target as Madni’s son was there. “Where will our children go. They can also qualify. They have also right to appear in the exams”, he said.
The KVIB had advertised various posts in October 2016 and conducted the interviews in January. For the post of Executive Officer, the KVIB had fixed Masters in Business Administration as a minimum qualification. As the list was announced on February 20, recruitment of 37-year-old Syed Aroot Madni, Mehbooba’s nephew at the post and other candidates in the related posts evoked criticism.
The dropped candidates allege that the interview panel played foul to accommodate the Chief Minister’s nephew and others. “Let them share how many marks the candidates secure in the written and in the interview. That will clear the air”, says a dropped candidate. Mansoor has directed the Board now to share the marks.
The dropped candidates say 15 to 18 candidates were shortlisted for an interview to fill a single post, which is against the set norm of 3:1 or 5:1. They say short-listing so many candidates for an interview was done to manipulate the selection process. The candidates said 60 marks were kept for the test while as 30 for an interview and ten marks for an experience. This, the candidates say, is against the norms set by the recruitment agencies of the state like Jammu Kashmir Public Service Commission (PSC), which keeps 80 marks for written and 20 for an interview to fill vacancies.