The General Administration Department (GAD) of J&K transferred 108 officials on Monday to the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh, which is facing an acute shortage of staff since its creation on August 5 last year.
“In the interest of administration and as a provisional measure, the services of the following (108) officials of different departments are hereby placed at the disposal of Union Territory of Ladakh, on deputation basis, with immediate effect,” reads the GAD order. The deputation, according to the GAD order, shall be for a period of two years or till the final allocation is made in terms of Section 89(2) of J&K Re-organization Act, 2019.
The officials included senior officials of the Kashmir Administrative cadre and medical officers.
The officials have been transferred from J&K’s Revenue Department, Disaster Management and Relief-Rehabilitation, Home Department, Civil Secretariat, Floriculture department, Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Animal and Sheep Husbandry department, Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, and Industries and Commerce Department, among others.
The shifting of employees from the UT of J&K to Ladakh comes days after Umang Narula, advisor to the Lt. Governor of Ladakh, in a letter flagged the issue of staff shortage.
“The UT of Ladakh is facing serious constraints of manpower at various levels. Some directorates and heads of departments are headless, which is adversely affecting the delivery of public services [in Ladakh],” reads the letter.
