Srinagar: The J&K Government on Thursday scrapped the process for the recruitment of 250 probationary officers and 1,200 banking associates, as irregularities in the bank’s recruitment process in 2018 have come to the fore.

The bank will initiate and complete the recruitment against these vacancies afresh in a time-bound manner with three months, said Rohit Kansal, official spokesperson of the J&K Government.The secrecy maintained by Jammu and Kashmir Bank in carrying out recruitments has put the institution in the dock amid fresh allegations that an entire list of 582 selected candidates was “changed” to pave way for the appointment of relatives of politicians and their workers.The uproar against the premier financial institution of J&K started after J&K governor Satya Pal Malik said that one day 40 youth approached him and said they had “passed the bank exam and interview” but politicians had removed their names from the list to include their relatives and workers from their constituencies.

“I called the J&K bank chairman…. and told him I want jobs for these candidates who had qualified the exams. He (the chairman) said this is not the case of just 40 youth, but there are 582 candidates who had qualified exams but didn’t get selected. This is the tragedy of Kashmir… there is so much of fraud and those who don’t give bribe have no chance of getting a job,” the governor can be heard telling the interviewer. “I asked the bank chairman to give the youth their due. I also called the finance secretary and finally, a resolution was adopted and all 582 candidates were given appointment letters last week.”On March 19, 2015 the bank invited online applications for posts o Relationship Executives (RE). The final results were declared almost two years later on March 9, 2017.But when the selection list was released, it not only included 350 REs but also 1,250 Banking Associates (BA) – even though the bank hadn’t advertised the post of BAs in 2015.On October 17, the governor while e-inaugurating the banks’ 35 ultra-small branches to connect 111 unbanked villages of Ladakh, talked about the selection of these 582 candidates.That time, however, he thanked the bank chairman for responding to “my request of looking into the adjustment of some candidates, who had already qualified bank’s written exams during the last recruitment drive”. Meanwhile, an official spokesperson said the Administrative Council, which met in Jammu under LG GC Murmu, has asked the finance department to advise J&K Bank for initiating fresh recruitment for 250 PO and 1200 Banking AssociatesOn the recruitment process, Kansal said the issues had been ongoing since 2018 and noted that various legal infirmities had been pointed out in the ongoing process.“The Council, he said, therefore, directed the Finance Department to advise J&K Bank to initiate a fresh, fair, norm based and transparent recruitment for 250 Probationary Officers and 1200 banking Associates in the J&K Bank through the IBPS,” the spokesperson said.

“The entire recruitment process will be completed by on a fast track basis within three months. The detailed modalities and announcements in this regard will be finalized by the bank in its next board meeting. As a result the ongoing process of recruitment for these posts by this bank shall stand scrapped,” he said and added that the bank is being advised to ensure that all applicants eligible in the last recruitment which has been cancelled shall be eligible for the fresh recruitment also.