Attraction of bureaucrats more towards political leaders in power just for their own conveniences and less towards the spirit of public service has ultimately changed the very face of bureaucracy in Jammu & Kashmir. Though at the beginning AGMUT cadre was a welcome move for the officers of J&K Combined Services popularly called KAS, KPS etc. but with government choosing to appoint only IAS and IPS officers for the positions of deputy commissioners of districts and district police chiefs or say district SPs respectively, the institutional encroachment of the officers of J&K Combined Services has drastically reduced their proportional representation in the mainland civil and police administration of Jammu & Kashmir. The latest transfers in civil and police administration show that the proportional representation of KAS officers in the appointment of deputy commissioners has been reduced to just 1-2%, and similarly the proportional representation of KPS officers in the appointment of district police chiefs usually called district SPs’ has been also reduced to just 1-2%. Even the positions of directors of the key departments previously held by the KAS officers for most of the times are now mostly occupied by IAS officers most of whom do not belong even to erstwhile J&K cadre. With this change in the system of transfers, postings and appointments even the IAS and IPS officers of erstwhile J&K cadre who had become monarchs unto themselves have to be ready for their transfer from Jammu & Kashmir to any other state or union territory of the country. While posting in Jammu & Kashmir till the last day of retirement is no longer a matter of right for IAS and IPS officers, the posting in Jammu & Kashmir is likely to continue to be a matter of right for the officers of J&K combined services likes KAS, KPS etc.
Forget about Kashmiris occupying the position of Chief Secretary or Director General of police and for that matter even Divisional Commissioner or Inspector General Of Police vin future now, they would very rarely get any opportunity to hold the positions of even deputy commissioners and district SPs.
Amid this changing face of bureaucracy the apprehensions about Kashmiris’ disappearing from the top ranks of the civil and police administration are rising day after day as mostly non Kashmiri IAS and IPS officers drawn from both the erstwhile J&K cadre and AGMUT and non AGMUT cadres are holding the posts of deputy commissioners and district SPs. From 2016 onwards no Kashmiri has been appointed Divisional Commissioner Kashmir and even now the positions of both the Divisional Commissioner and the Inspector General of Police in Kashmir are held by non Kashmiris. Maintaining balance in the appointments of officers on top ranks was the key feature of bureaucracy till the fall of Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP Government in July 2018 as one Kashmiri officer at the top in civil administration and one non Kashmiri officer at top in police administration was almost a precedence in Jammu & Kashmir. Though for many years the top posts in both the civil and police administration were held by non Kashmiris also but such moves were never ever made intentionally by either by the popular governments or by the governors during the times of direct central rule in Jammu & Kashmir. Forget about any Kashmiris occupying the position of Chief Secretary or Director General of police and for that matter even Divisional Commissioner or Inspector General Of Police vin future now, they would very rarely get any opportunity to hold the positions of even deputy commissioners and district SPs.
