Srinagar, June 18 (KDC): In a glaring case of administrative delays, hundreds of Special Police Officers (SPOs) recruited under the sports category in Jammu & Kashmir continue to await regularization as constables, despite a clear 2009 policy mandating their absorption. The issue, pending for over years according to these SPOs, has left them and their families in financial and emotional distress, with repeated postponements of key meetings adding to their woes.
A delegation of sports category SPOs told Srinagar-based news agency Kashmir Dot Com that the Home Department of J&K had issued a circular (No. Home/PB-III/62/G/2008 dated 25-09-2009) outlining the regularization/rehabilitation of SPOs under the sports quota as constables. However, implementation has been marred by bureaucratic hurdles.
They said the Range Police Headquarters, Baramulla, had forwarded the cases of eligible SPOs to the Additional Police Headquarters (APHQ) Srinagar in 2022 through multiple communications (Estt/SPO-Sports/2022/10640-41, Estt/Reh-38/2022/15277-78, and Estt/Reh-38/2022/15263-64). These cases, accompanied by Range Level Committee (RLC) recommendations and original documents, were later sent to the DIG Armed Kashmir for final approval.
However, according to them, a scheduled meeting to review these cases (Notice No. AROK/6339-45 dated 03-07-2024) has been postponed multiple times, leaving the SPOs in limbo.
Speaking anonymously, an SPO from Baramulla said, “We have served the department with dedication, some of us for over a decade. We were promised regularization under the sports quota, but every time we get hope, the meeting gets postponed. Our families are suffering—this delay is unjust.”
Another SPO, a national-level athlete, lamented, “If our sports achievements were valued enough to recruit us, why are they not enough to regularize us? Many of us are now overage for other government jobs. Where do we go?”
The affected SPOs have now appealed to higher authorities, including the Lieutenant Governor’s Office and J&K Home Department, to intervene and direct the DIG Armed Kashmir to hold the pending meeting without further delay. (KDC)
