7,299 Vacancies Referred to Recruiting Agencies in 2025, 1,230 Selections Made | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government told the Legislative Assembly that 7,299 vacancies were referred to the two recruiting agencies in 2025, and that just 1,230 appointments have been finalised, according to the reply to a starred question by Sajad Lone.

The departmental reply says 959 posts were referred to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission and 6,340 to the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board during the year. Of the 1,230 selections recorded, 469 were made by the JKPSC and 761 by the JKSSB.

The data tabled in the assembly provides department-wise lists of vacancies accrued in 2025 and the vacancies referred to the recruiting agencies. A total of 18,283 vacancies were accrued in 2025, 13,586 non-gazetted posts and 4,697 gazetted posts. Departments across the administration — from Health and Medical Education to Revenue and Jal Shakti — feature in the schedules the government placed before the Assembly. The highest number of vacancies in one year lie inn Health and Medical education department, standing at 5575, followed by the School Education department, where vacancies rose by 3784 in 2025.

The government told the Assembly that selections are made strictly on merit and in accordance with recruitment rules, and that the JKPSC does not maintain division- or district-level vacancy statistics. The reply also said the Cabinet sub-committee on reservation, constituted to examine rationalisation of quotas, will consider matters within its remit; the government maintained there is no “inverse mismatch” between Kashmir Division population share and selections on the basis of the data placed on record.

Data includes both direct recruitment vacancies and posts arising from promotions; promotion-quota posts are not amenable to direct recruitment and are shown separately in the schedules. There are over 70,000 posts vacant across all the departments in Jammu and Kashmir.

Among the larger shortfalls, the Health and Medical Education Department has 2,497 gazetted and 8,088 non-gazetted vacancies, besides 2,712 MTS posts. The Public Works Department shows 770 non-gazetted and 2841 MTS vacancies, while the Power Development Department has 54 gazetted, 1,637 non-gazetted and 141 MTS posts vacant.

The School Education Department reports 594 gazetted, 727 non-gazetted and 43 MTS vacancies. The Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department has 17 gazetted, 856 non-gazetted and 607 MTS posts unfilled.

In the Finance Department, 20 gazetted, 1,565 non-gazetted and 139 MTS posts are vacant. The Revenue Department lists 34 gazetted, 856 non-gazetted and 607 MTS vacancies, while the Agriculture Production Department reports 50 gazetted, 2,064 non-gazetted and 2,961 MTS posts vacant.

Across the departments, without promotion quota, there are 3808 gazetted, 24507 non-gazetted and 12351 MTS vacant posts.

The departments have been asked to continue referring vacancies to recruiting agencies and to follow prescribed timelines; the reply noted that several referred posts remain at various stages of selection (examination, document verification, interview) with tentative completion dates set by the commissions.