The aspirants are up in arms against the Jammu and Kashmir Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for shelving mass recruitment and for deciding to employ in-service teachers of the School Education Department.
The Forensic Science aspirants have written to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Principal Secretary Home Shaleen Kabra urging both of them to look into the matter. The aspirants said that the Forensic Laboratory Srinagar has dozens of vacancies in various streams but for unknown reasons these are not being advertised or filled through open recruitment.
“Last year the Home Department referred around 20 posts to Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board for filling up of Assistant Scientific Officers and other vacancies. The recruiting agency accordingly issued an advertisement notice No. 06/2019/001 to 06/2019/007 dated 01-02-2019, however surpassingly the advertisement notice was later withdrawn due to the reasons best know the authorities of J&K Forensic Science Laboratory,” an aspirant told Early Times over phone.
He said that this year, J&K Forensic Science Laboratory has decided to fill the vacancies by employing in-service masters of the School Education Department.
According to the documents available with news agency, Director J&K Forensic Science Laboratory has invited applications from in-service masters of School Education Department with relevant qualification so that they can be engaged as Assistant Scientific Officers and deputed for other technical jobs. “The last mass recruitment in the lab was held in 1983 and ironically almost the same staff is continuing till date despite some being retired but rehired, or are at the verge of retirement.
Virtually no recruitment has ever since been done to add qualified staff to enhance the value & quality of forensic investigation by the laboratory. Recruitment of only three Assistant Scientific Officers (ASOs) in 2017 in lieu of advertisement dated back to 2013 took place,” states the letter addressed to the Principal Secretary Home Department. Director J&K Forensic Science Laboratory Dr Shubhra Sharma on being contacted refused to comment on the issue however, she said that engagement of in-service teachers was a temporary arrangement. “What can I say on this issue? It’s a policy decision however the engagement of in-service teachers is a temporary arrangement,” she replied. (Early Times )
