32474 posts vacant in departments: Govt

Jammu, Mar 4: The Jammu & Kashmir Government on Tuesday informed the Legislative Assembly that a staggering 32,474 posts are lying vacant across different departments in Jammu & Kashmir.
In a written response to a question of MLA Handwara, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who happens to be Minister in-charge, General Administration Department, said that 32474 posts are vacant in different departments as on January 31, 2025.
Of these, 2,503 are gazetted posts, 19,214 are non-gazetted posts, and 10,757 are multi-tasking staff positions, the CM said.
The highest number of posts are vacant in the Health Department, with 7,851 vacancies.
It is followed by the Health & Medical Education department and Animal & Sheep Husbandry Department with 3759 and 2589 vacancies, respectively.
According to the reply, there are 2517 vacancies in the Industries & Commerce Department and 2420 in Housing & Urban Development Department.
In the past four months, the Government informed that 3727 vacancies have been referred to Public Service Commission and Services Selection Board since October 16, 2024, the day when Omar Abdullah-led government took oath.
Of these, 738 are gazetted posts, 1754 non-gazetted posts and 1235 multi-tasking slots.
The Government also revealed that it has no proposal to make job application forms free for job aspirants.
“Presently, no such proposal is under consideration in the Government,” it said.
In the past four months, the government revealed that it has collected Rs 14. 17 crore examination fee from students appearing in recruiting tests conducted by SSB and PSC.
In its election manifesto for last year’s assembly polls, the National Conference had promised to make job application forms free for all the examinations.
“The job application will be made free for all the examinations,” the party had promised in its manifesto. (KNO)