For J&K's Split With Ladakh, Centre To Form Panel To Divide Officers

A committee to divide the human resource between newly formed Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will be formed by the centre, sources have told NDTV. The panel will look into all the aspects of the division of manpower, including senior police and administrative officers.

"Cadre (of senior officers) allocation is going to be a Herculean task as most of the officers only want the Jammu and Kashmir cadre and very few want to opt for the Ladakh cadre due to various factors," a senior government functionary told NDTV.

Most of the Indian Police Service and Indian Administrative Service officers NDTV spoke to, want to opt for Jammu and Kashmir. Difficult terrain is cited by the officers as one of the reasons for not opting for Ladakh.

The total strength of IAS and IPS officers is around 277, the government functionary said.

"Officers will be given the option to choose regarding where they want to serve in the two Union territories and this transfer will be determined by the Lt Governor," he said.

"The central government shall have the power to review any of the orders," he added.

On Monday, the centre ended special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union territories. While Jammu and Kashmir will continue to have a legislature, Ladakh will be without it, the government had said in parliament.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir re-organisation bill, IAS, IPS and other central services officers of J-K cadre will continue to serve in the two Union territories, while new recruits of these services will be allocated the 'Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre'.

"The officers allocated to both these union territories shall function within these union territories in accordance to the rules framed by the central government," says the JK re-organisation bill.

As per the service rules, officers below 40 years of age are posted in Ladakh in the two working seasons.

"Centre would have to work out a formula so that Ladakh does not feel neglected," a senior officer in the Home Ministry said.

According to him, the distribution of the police force will face hurdles.

The sanctioned strength of Jammu and Kashmir police is around 84,000 personnel, and around 40,000 special police officers have also been deployed.

"Out of these, most of the SPOs are in the (Kashmir) Valley and a few thousands are along the border areas in Jammu and Doda but very few are there in Ladakh," says another officer.

The police strength in Ladakh is also less because of the small population.

"But now, we need to think twenty years ahead. A plan needs to be chalked out keeping in mind that China is developing the ghat region very fast," the officer added.