Srinagar, Aug 24: The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) is facing a fresh institutional challenge following the retirement of its Chairman Arun Kumar Choudhary and continuing vacancies among its members, raising concerns over the timely completion of pending recruitment processes.

Choudhary, who was appointed Chairman in February 2024, attained the age of 62 earlier this month, bringing his tenure to an end. The Commission’s official website currently lists only Dr Rajiv Singh and Asaf Mehmood Sagar as serving members.
The development has caused concern among aspirants, particularly as a substantial number of recruitment processes remain pending before the constitutional body.
According to information obtained through an RTI application, 1,455 posts notified by JKPSC between August 2019 and August 2025 were still awaiting completion of the selection process.
The pending posts include 594 lecturer positions in the School Education Department, 90 posts under the Combined Competitive Examination-2024 and 118 Assistant Professor posts in government medical colleges.
The backlog assumes significance given JKPSC’s wide-ranging mandate, which includes recruitment to gazetted administrative, engineering, medical, teaching and other professional positions.
The Commission also conducts competitive examinations and interviews, prepares selection lists and makes recommendations for appointments. It additionally participates in Departmental Promotion Committee proceedings and advises the Government on recruitment, promotion and other service-related matters.
The shortage of members has also raised questions about the Commission’s ability to transact certain statutory business.
The JKPSC Business and Procedure Rules, 2021 prescribe quorum requirements for meetings dealing with recruitment and Departmental Promotion Committee matters. Similar shortages in the past had affected the Commission’s functioning.
The Commission has a sanctioned strength of one Chairman and eight members. In June 2024, the Government appointed three members—Dr Rajiv Singh, Tariq Ahmad Zargar and Yashpal Kotwal—after the Commission had faced a prolonged shortage.
Zargar subsequently moved out of JKPSC after being appointed Director of Information and Public Relations, while the Commission’s current website lists only Rajiv Singh and Asaf Mehmood Sagar as members.
The latest situation has revived memories of the institutional difficulties faced by JKPSC in 2022, when vacancies reportedly reduced its strength below the required quorum and raised concerns over recruitment and promotion proceedings.
Aspirants have urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo to ensure the early appointment of a Chairman and adequate members so that the Commission can function at its required strength.
The concern comes despite considerable recruitment activity during 2025-26. According to JKPSC’s 67th Annual Report, the Commission made 1,152 selections against 1,263 posts referred to it during the year.
However, the existing backlog, coupled with the present leadership gap, has renewed concerns over the continuity of examinations, interviews, selections and other statutory processes.
For thousands of government-job aspirants, the immediate priority is the full reconstitution of JKPSC so that pending recruitment is not further delayed by avoidable institutional vacancies.
Efforts to contact Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo for his response did not materialise