JOIN USNoisy scenes prevailed for nearly 30 minutes when members from Kupwara and Jammu, belonging to different parties, objected to the present policy which allows candidates to apply for district and divisional cadre posts irrespective of whether they belong to that particular district.
Demanding that the policy be scraped forthwith, they threatened to commit suicide in the House if their demand was not met.
Raising the issue shortly after Question Hour, Mir Saifullah, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Khafil-ur-Rehman (all National Conference), Abdul Haq Khan (PDP) and Sheikh Abdul Rashid (Independent) hailing from Kupwara rose to protest the non-selection of candidates from their district in recent interviews.
To drive home their point, they cited instances of schools in the district running without teachers as those appointed from outside had fled the district after getting the job.
As the turmoil continued, Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone tried to pacify the agitated members saying if there was any grievance regarding the transparency of the selection process, it will be investigated.
As Lone asked Abdul Rehman Veeri (PDP) to raise his issue, the members rushed to the well and offered dharna on the issue.
When the members refused to obey the Chair's plea to take their seats, the Speaker asked Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather to ask the members to behave.
The minister admitted that the policy has caused resentment among the locals in almost all districts.
To do justice, he said government has introduced a bill during the last session to restrict the selection process for various divisional and district cadre posts for the residents of the concerned districts and divisions.
He sought support from members of all parties for the passage of the bill.
As the agitated members wanted to know the reasons for appointment of teachers from SC and ST categories in districts where these categories did not exist, BJP, NPP and an independent Ashwani Kumar Sharma opposed it.
This brought members from Kupwara and Jammu face to face, with those from Kupwara favouring it and MLAs from Jammu opposing it.
However, BJP, NPP and Sharma staged a walkout after the government said the bill will be introduced in the current session itself.