Thaindian News

Jammu, March 26 (IANS) Two ruling National Conference (NC) legislators caused an uproar in the state assembly Friday, demanding that a bill banning inter-district recruitment be introduced in the house without any delay. They were joined by opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and an independent legislator.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar had assured the house Saturday that the bill would be tabled March 22. But the bill was not presented as the Congress raised objections, saying it would hurt the eight percent reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) in government jobs.

Protesting against the non-tabling of the bill, two National Conference legislators — Mir Saif-ullah and Kafil-ur-Rehman — walked up to the well of the house and shouted slogans. “We want the bill to be tabled now,” they said.

PDP members and independent legislator Abdul Rashid joined them.

The inter-district recruitment (ban) bill envisages jobs for the locals of the respective districts only, instead of candidates of other districts applying for the district cadre posts.

Mir said: “Inter-district recruitment is killing the job opportunities of the local youth. Our youth are without jobs, while the vacancies are being filled by outsiders.”

If the bill is introduced and passed, it would deny SC candidates from availing eight percent reservation in jobs in the district cadre posts.

While the SC community has its presence in all the 10 districts of Jammu region, it has no presence in the 10 districts of the Kashmir Valley.

The valley-based legislators argued that when the community does not have a presence in Kashmir, jobs should not be reserved for it. They want only the natives of the districts to get the jobs.

Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone assured the members that the bill would be introduced in the ongoing budget session but did not specify the date. “I am telling you that the bill will be brought in the house and that too during this session,” he said.