Srinagar, Nov 9, KDC: The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) has urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s latest recruitment process, seeking an increase in the upper age limit to 40 years for Probationary Officer (PO) and Banking Associate posts.
The Association said the existing upper age limit of 30 years has left thousands of educated and otherwise eligible aspirants disappointed, particularly as the latest recruitment notification has been issued after a gap of nearly six years.
JKSA National Spokesperson Dr Zubair Reshi said the announcement of fresh recruitment was a welcome development, but the prescribed age criteria had effectively excluded many candidates who had spent years preparing for banking examinations while waiting for new employment opportunities.
He said the recruitment process should take into account the prolonged gap between recruitment cycles and the difficulties faced by educated unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Association pointed out that the upper age limit for Probationary Officer posts in the previous J&K Bank recruitment was 32 years, whereas the latest notification has reduced it to 30 years.
Reshi said aspirants should not be made to bear the consequences of delayed recruitment and administrative inaction, adding that the Bank should adopt a more inclusive approach by extending the upper age limit to 40 years, in line with the age criteria followed by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) for Open Merit candidates.
He said that, at the very least, the Bank should restore the previous upper age limit of 32 years for PO aspirants and consider special relaxation in view of the prolonged recruitment gap.
The Association also raised concerns over the distribution of vacancies under the existing reservation framework. It noted that out of the 1,356 posts advertised, only 542 have been allocated to the Open Merit category, while the remaining vacancies fall under reserved categories.
JKSA urged the authorities to examine these concerns while ensuring equitable opportunities for all eligible candidates, keeping in view the unemployment situation and aspirations of educated youth in the Union Territory.
The Association appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to personally take up the matter with the J&K Bank management and other competent authorities to reconsider the prescribed age criteria and provide appropriate relaxation to deserving candidates.
It maintained that recruitment after nearly six years should bring hope and relief to educated youth rather than create additional barriers, urging the Bank to address the concerns of aspirants sympathetically and announce an appropriate age relaxation at the earliest. (KDC)
