Recruitment rules of most departments are outdated, obsolete: PSC

The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (PSC) has called for an overhaul of Recruitment Rules across government departments, observing that rules framed decades ago have become “very old, outdated, obsolete” and, in several cases, redundant in the face of rapidly changing administrative, technological and professional requirements.

The recommendation figures prominently in the commission’s annual report for 2025-26 and comes against the backdrop of a recruitment system that handled a massive volume of applications during the year.

As reported earlier, JKPSC received 94,546 applications against 1263 posts during 2025-26, eventually making 1152 selections.

The commission has now linked the scale and complexity of contemporary government recruitment with the need to fundamentally update the rules governing entry, qualifications, promotion and career progression in government service.

“Recruitment Rules of most of the State Government Departments framed decades ago are very old, outdated, obsolete and have become redundant and require their revision and updating to keep pace with the fast changing social, economic and technological scenario,” the commission states in its report.

It says the revision is necessary not merely to update old provisions but also to ensure that the government has the “efficiency and expertise required for handling assignments of complex nature” in view of the diversification and specialisation taking place in governance and the functioning of government organisations.
The commission has specifically identified Education, Medical Sciences, and Computer Sciences as areas where the recruitment framework needs to accommodate and incentivise diversification.

“It is also necessary to accommodate and incentivise diversification in the field of Education, Medical Sciences and Computer Sciences,” the report states.

The commission has also made a direct connection between outdated Recruitment Rules and service litigation.
It says aligning the rules with the actual functional requirements of government departments would help reduce disputes arising from recruitment and promotion provisions.
“The updating and revision of Recruitment Rules to the matching requirement of the functioning of the Government Departments will also bring down the incidence of litigation,” it observes.
The commission has consequently recommended that Recruitment Rules across government departments be revised and updated urgently, including a review of categories of posts falling within the purview of the Departmental Promotion Committees (DPCs) and the Public Service Commission.
The report goes beyond recruitment qualifications and calls for restructuring the career hierarchy within government services.
“While reviewing the recruitment rules, there is a need to build proper pyramids to provide reasonable vertical movement in the ladders,” the commission says.

It acknowledges that the structure cannot be uniform across all government services but maintains that career progression can be made compatible across different services.
The concern is significant because the absence of a properly structured promotional hierarchy can create bottlenecks in career progression, particularly where large numbers of employees compete for a limited number of higher-level posts.
The commission has also raised questions over the minimum qualifications prescribed for promotional positions.
“While amending the Recruitment Rules, the Departments also need to consider the minimum qualification for the posts,” it states.
The report notes that it has come across cases in which employees holding certain categories of posts are eligible for promotion to the next level despite not possessing the basic minimum qualification prescribed under the existing Recruitment Rules of the concerned department.
The commission has therefore called for departments to examine qualification requirements as part of the revision exercise rather than merely modifying recruitment or promotional ratios.

Another procedural issue highlighted in the report is the mechanism for obtaining vigilance clearance.
“Mechanism of Vigilance Clearance needs to be reviewed as the delays in submitting the Vigilance Clearance cause delays in clearance of the proposals,” the commission says.
The observation points to an administrative bottleneck in the processing of promotion and other service-related cases, with delays in obtaining vigilance clearance affecting the disposal of proposals.
The commission has also proposed a different mechanism for handling selection-grade cases.

It has recommended that departments constitute screening committees for considering officers for the grant of selection grade instead of placing such proposals before the DPC or PSC.
“The departments should constitute screening committees for considering officers for the grant of selection grade, and such proposals need not be placed before the DPC and PSC,” the report states. It further recommends that necessary amendments be made to recruitment rules wherever required to exempt selection grade from the DPC and PSC process.

The commission has also sought greater adherence to its advice and recommendations by the government.
“The advice and recommendations tendered by the commission need to be followed,” it states, adding that where the government delays in acting on its advice, the commission should be kept informed.

The recommendations acquire greater significance when viewed against the workload handled by JKPSC during the year.

The commission received 94,546 applications for 1263 posts – an average of nearly 75 applications for every post referred to it.

Despite the large volume of applications, it made 1152 selections during 2025-26.

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