SRINAGAR – The Public Service Commission for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir would be re-constituted under the provisions of the Constitution of India, sources told wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
Highly placed sources said that Government would soon start an exercise to re-constitute the prestigious recruitment body of the erstwhile state. “The exercise would be carried out in accordance with the Constitution of India because J & K constitution that governed appointment of its members was scrapped by the Government of India on August 5,” an official disclosed.
The KNO had exclusively reported on Friday that government has ordered re-constitution of the PSC, curtailing term of its head and seven other members.
Citing the J&K Re- Organisation (Removal of Difficulties) Order 2019, the government on Thursday communicated to the PSC that its chairman and members shall cease to function from October 31, the day when J&K was formally divided into two UTs.
Under the Constitution of India, a member of the Commission shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of sixty-two years, whichever is earlier.
However, under the J&K Constitution, a member of the commission was empowered to hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.
The Government’s action to remove PSC head and members has come under question from legal experts. “It is illegal action because the Re-Organisation Act protected their continuity in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. You cannot invoke a clause of the Presidential Order to remove them because the clause is not consonance with the Re-organisation Act,” they said.
The PSC is mandated to conduct recruitment for prestigious gazette services including Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS), Kashmir Police Service (KPS) and other coveted services.
It was set -up under the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir which came into force on January 26, 1957. The Re-organisation Act- the law which bifurcated the State- protected the body. Under the law, the PSC for the State of J&K shall be PSC for the Union Territory of J&K. (KNO)
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