The appointment of the new Director Colleges J&K has created a debate as the J&K Government for the first time has constituted a selection committee for selection of the candidate for the post.
Earlier, the Higher Education Department (HED) would give the charges of the Director Colleges to a senior most principal of the Degree College. The practice was in vogue for a decade now.
However, the General Administration Department (GAD) last week constituted a high-level committee for selection of the director colleges in the HED.
The order was issued as the Director Colleges Peerzada Muhammad Yousuf attained superannuation from his services on May 31.
The six-member committee is headed by the administrative secretary HED as its Chairman while the special secretary or additional secretary HED will be the member secretary of the committee.
The other members of the committee are director finance HED, one each representative not below the rank of additional secretary, from GAD, Law justice and parliamentary affairs department and ARI and training department.
This is for the first time that such order was issued by the GAD regarding a matter that generated debate in the power echelons searching for the motive behind the new move.
While the debates are on over the appointment of new Director Colleges, the administrative secretary HED, Sushma Chauhan in a clear message said that the order was issued on the basis of official communication sent to GAD regarding the matter.
“It is not like GAD has stepped in, but I as the administrative secretary wrote a letter to GAD with the suggestions to constitute a selection panel for the appointment of the director Colleges,” Chauhan said.
“I wrote the letter to GAD two weeks ago. In past the commissioner secretary with their own orders would co-opt the other members, which is technically incorrect,” she said.
Notably, the first director colleges in HED was appointed in 1998 and since then it was routine exercise of the department to appoint a senior most degree college principal as director colleges.
Also, as per the rules, a KAS officer is also eligible for the post. But till date the post has not been occupied with a candidate from administration. It is an academic post and was filled by an academician.
“Preference will be given to someone who is from the academic side because experience matters and there is no doubt about it,” Sushma Chauhan said.
She, however, said if any KAS officer has to be posted as Director Colleges, then GAD will post someone from administration and there will be no selection process followed for that.
“But since the government has constituted a selection committee so the panel will consider only people only from HED,” she said.