The Omar Abdullah-led alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir has earned a revenue of over Rs 31 crores by selling job application forms in the last year.
The information was shared by the Government in response to a question submitted by People’s Conference MLA Sajad Gani Lone.
According to the written reply furnished in the legislative assembly, the Minister in-charge of the General Administration Department (GAD) informed the House that `31,75,32,400 has been collected as application fees by the Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission and the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board.
The Minister stated that no proposal is currently under consideration to abolish job test fees.
“The application fee charged by recruiting agencies is meant to cover administrative and operational expenses incurred in conducting examinations. These include costs related to advertisement, processing of applications, printing of examination materials, deployment of manpower, infrastructure, and technological arrangements required to ensure transparency and efficiency in the recruitment process,” the Minister said.
He added that the fee structure remains reasonable and is on par with that charged by various government recruiting agencies across the country.
After receiving the response, Peoples Conference President Sajad Gani Lone criticised the government for failing to keep its promises.
“In its election manifesto, JKNC promised to waive off application fees for recruitment agencies like SSRB, JKPSC, and other institutions in J&K. I asked a question to find out whether that election promise had been fulfilled,” Lone said.
He added that the Minister in-charge of GAD — who also happens to be the MLA from Ganderbal and the Chief Minister — informed the House that `31 crore had been collected in fees since the government came to power in October last year.
“This `31 crore reflects one of the many broken promises and a trail of lies and deceit,” Lone said. “Please, for once, can they admit that they lied – and apologise?
The information was shared by the govt in response to a question submitted by People’s Conference MLA Sajad Gani Lone
