94% Employees Stagnant, No Gazetted Posts; Delegation Flags Decades of DoPT Norm Violations Before Div Com Kahsmir
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, April 20: The streets outside the Divisional Commissioner’s office in Kashmir witnessed an uncommon sight today: not the usual political slogans, but a disciplined, anguished gathering of government employees—men and women who man the desks, process the files, and keep the Revenue Department running—raising their voices not for salary or benefits, but for the most fundamental of service demands: a fair chance to rise. The All Departments Clerical Staff Association (JKADCSA), the apex ministerial federation of the Union Territory, joined a strong resentment and protest organised by the Revenue Ministerial Employees Association (RMEA) Kashmir, and together they submitted a searing memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner. The document, running several pages and laden with annexures of court orders and government circulars, accuses the department of perpetuating what it calls a “cruel disparity” in promotional structures—a disparity that has left ninety-four percent of its members stagnating for their entire careers while their counterparts in the revenue cadre rise steadily from Patwari to Tehsildar.
The protest, held on April 20, 2026, saw a significant gathering of employees from across the clerical and ministerial cadres. Leading the delegation was JKADCSA president Mr. Jeelani Naik, along with vice president Mr. Mir Muzaffar. They were joined by chairman of SENTEF Mr. Bashrat Saleem, president of SENTEF Mr. Mohd Ashraf Khan, organizing secretary Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, and publicity secretary Mr. Asif Habib. Together, they expressed grave and serious concern over what they repeatedly described as “step-motherly treatment” meted out to the clerical cadre—a cadre that forms the backbone of the department’s day-to-day administration but has been systematically denied the promotional pathways available to others.
The federation’s grievance is not merely administrative but constitutional. In its submission, a copy of which has been reviewed by this newspaper, the association invokes Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India, arguing that the absence of a single gazetted-level post for the clerical cadre—despite a sanctioned strength of 1,529 employees—amounts to a quiet violation of the fundamental guarantees of equality before law and prohibition of discrimination. The memorandum draws a sharp, unsparing comparison: while the Patwari cadre enjoys a clear, hierarchical ladder leading to the post of Tehsildar, of which there are 146, the clerical cadre sees barely two percent of its members ever reach the level of Head Assistant, and a mere one-point-five percent manage to become Section Officers. The rest, the federation claims, are condemned to retire from the same grade they joined decades earlier.
This stagnation, the association argues, is not an accident of history but a consequence of institutional neglect that directly flouts statutory mandates from the Government of India. The memorandum cites two Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) circulars—O.M. No. I-11011/1/2009-CRD dated December 14, 2010, and O.M. No. I-11019/16/2022-CRD dated September 29, 2022—both of which require every government department to undertake a comprehensive cadre review at least once every five years. The objectives of such a review, the federation notes, include ensuring balanced manpower utilisation, providing equitable promotional opportunities, rationalising service frameworks, and eliminating stagnation to retain motivated personnel. Yet, the Revenue Department of Jammu & Kashmir, the memorandum states with quiet fury, has never conducted a cadre review of its clerical or ministerial cadre since its inception. This failure, the association contends, is not a mere procedural lapse but a serious violation of binding central norms.
The legal backdrop to today’s protest adds considerable weight to the federation’s demands. The association has already approached the Central Administrative Tribunal’s Srinagar Bench through Original Application No. 1204 of 2025, titled Gh Jeelani Naikoo (President) and others versus the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and others. On October 17, 2025, the Hon’ble CAT disposed of the petition with a direction that the respondents treat the application as a representation and consider all the pleas taken therein in accordance with law. Crucially, the tribunal ordered that until the petitioners’ grievances were redressed and a final decision taken, the respondents were not to finalise Office Memorandum No. REV-NG/102-2-(119633) dated August 14, 2025. Despite this clear interim protection, the federation alleges that the department disregarded the tribunal’s direction and proceeded to notify draft recruitment rules on April 10, 2026. Consequently, a contempt petition has now been filed before the same bench, with the CAT’s orders dated October 17, 2025, and February 18, 2026, enclosed as annexures to the memorandum.
The specific objections raised by the federation are detailed and technical, but they boil down to a single, urgent plea: do not snatch away the few promotional windows that still exist. The association points out that under the existing SRO 74 of 2009, junior assistants have a ten percent quota for promotion or conversion to the post of Patwari, and a one percent quota for promotion to Junior Scale Stenographer. Under the draft rules, both are being proposed to be filled hundred percent through direct recruitment, effectively sealing off those avenues forever. Similarly, the memorandum objects to the proposed enhancement of typing speed for the Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) cadre from twenty-five words per minute to thirty-five words per minute, calling it unjust given that other departments retain the lower threshold for in-service promotions. The association also warns against any reduction or removal of the twenty percent quota available to MTS employees for conversion to Driver posts under SRO 75 of 2009, describing it as a vital window to address the stagnation of the lowest rung of the clerical hierarchy.
To remedy what it calls “decades of disparity,” the federation has put forward a series of proposals aimed at creating a unified and equitable promotion structure comparable to those enjoyed by the revenue cadre, the secretariat cadre, and the finance department. The memorandum points out that while the clerical cadre of the Revenue Department has 1,529 employees with only 22 Section Officer posts and zero gazetted positions, the Finance Department’s clerical cadre—far smaller in size—has a clear ladder from Junior Assistant to Section Officer. The secretariat cadre under the General Administration Department, the federation notes with evident frustration, has 431 Junior Assistants, 336 Senior Assistants, 318 Head Assistants, and 157 Section Officers, offering a robust, multi-layered pyramid. In contrast, the Revenue Department’s clerical pyramid is an inverted, brutal funnel: 1,308 Junior Assistants feeding into a mere 163 Senior Assistants, then 36 Head Assistants, and finally just 22 Section Officers.
One of the federation’s most striking proposals involves the re-designation of existing posts under SRO 656 of 2019. The association demands that the dispensation available under SRO 74 of 2009 for elevation of Junior Assistants to the post of WBN must be retained, and further suggests that the WBN, Wasli-baqi, Mohasib, and Saddar-Moshaib posts be merged and re-designated as follows: WBN as Senior Assistant, Mohasib as Head Assistant, and Saddar Mohasib as Section Officer. This proposal, the memorandum notes with emphasis, has already been endorsed by the Divisional Commissioners of both Jammu and Kashmir, as well as by the Financial Commissioner Revenue of Jammu & Kashmir. Copies of those endorsements are enclosed as annexures to the memorandum. The federation further demands the creation and rationalisation of clerical staff for each administrative unit established in the Union Territory, specifically two Senior Assistants, one Head Assistant, and one Section Officer per unit. Additionally, it calls for one Section Officer, one Head Assistant, and two Senior Assistant posts in every Registrar and Sub-Registrar office under the Registration Wing of the Revenue Department, along with the creation of one Administrative Officer for each AIGR and IGR office.
Perhaps the most radical suggestion in the memorandum concerns the sanctioned strength of MTS employees, currently standing at 2,694. The federation proposes a reduction of this strength by approximately forty-five percent—amounting to around 1,500 posts—and a compensatory increase in the number of Senior Assistant posts in a ratio of three to one, yielding about three hundred new Senior Assistant positions. This adjustment, the association argues, would align the Revenue Department’s staffing structure with the Jammu & Kashmir Secretariat Subordinate Services and the Finance Department, as reflected in S.O. 80 of 2026 dated March 30, 2026, and S.R.O. 319 of 2025 dated December 17, 2025. The federation also demands the creation of two Administrative Officer posts for each Deputy Commissioner’s office, specifically for the clerical cadre, to finally provide a gazetted-level career avenue where none currently exists. The leaders and employees at the protest urged the competent authority to address these key issues before finalising the draft recruitment rules, emphasising that the absence of a single gazetted post for an entire cadre of over fifteen hundred employees is an anomaly that cannot be allowed to continue.
The memorandum further seeks a forty percent quota in all ministerial and other category posts—including Junior Assistant, Patwari, and Driver—to be kept reserved for conversion or promotion from the MTS cadre, subject to relevant training and a departmental examination. The association notes with concrete evidence that several other departments within the Government of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir have already amended their respective Subordinate Services Recruitment Rules to provide such reservations for lower-tier employees, and it encloses details of these amendments as an annexure to support its claim. Additionally, the federation demands a twenty-five percent quota in the Junior Scale Stenographer cadre for promotion from Junior Assistants, again after a qualifying examination. Finally, the association requests a change in nomenclature, aligning with the Jammu & Kashmir Secretariat Subordinate Services Recruitment Rules notified as S.O. 80 of 2026, to re-designate Junior Assistant as Junior Secretariat Assistant, Senior Assistant as Senior Secretariat Assistant, and Head Assistant as Assistant Section Officer.
As the delegation concluded its submission to the Divisional Commissioner, the leaders issued a final appeal that carried the weight of decades of waiting. The Association has strongly urged the Revenue Department and all concerned authorities to redress the genuine aspirations of the ministerial cadre and incorporate the proposals put forward before notifying the final Recruitment Rules. In a clear warning to the administration, the federation appealed that failure to address these genuine and constitutionally valid demands will leave it with no option but to escalate its protest through democratic means. The Association reiterated its commitment to pursuing justice for the thousands of clerical employees who have been languishing without adequate promotional avenues for decades, and called upon all well-wishers and stakeholders—particularly the constituents of JKADCSA—to extend their moral and institutional support to this rightful cause.
The clerical cadre, today’s protest made clear, is no longer willing to accept a fate where ninety-four percent of its members retire without meaningful promotion, where not a single gazetted post exists for a force of over fifteen hundred employees, and where draft recruitment rules threaten to extinguish even the limited windows that remain. With contempt proceedings already pending before the Central Administrative Tribunal and the DoPT’s cadre review mandate openly flouted for decades, the Revenue Department now finds itself at the centre of a legal, constitutional, and increasingly democratic confrontation that shows no signs of abating. For thousands of clerical employees across Jammu & Kashmir, the fight is no longer just about promotions—it is about dignity, parity, and the promise of the Constitution itself. And if the authorities do not act, the federation has made its position unmistakably clear: the streets may well see them again.
