Challenges before Sharma as JKPSC Chairman

Return of B R Sharma a former Chief Secretary of Jammu & Kashmir with a new role in a new scenario throws up a huge challenge before him. His hostile experiences as J&K Chief Secretary with the political party in power at the centre as a strong ally of erstwhile Mehbooba led coalition government in erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state are unforgettable. His unceremonious exit as J&K Chief Secretary won’t be erased from the annals of Jammu & Kashmir’s bureaucratic history. Though known as a soft spoken and a non controversial bureaucrat throughout his service career Sharma faces the daunted task of maintaining balances between Jammu & Kashmir regions and domiciles and PRC (Permanent Residence Certficate) holders without compromising the transparency in the selection for gazette posts and the elite Kashmir Administrative Service and Kashmir Judicial Service examinations. Keeping in view his inability to resist the pressures from two coalition partners PDP and BJP as Jammu & Kashmir Chief Secretary under the erstwhile Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP coalition government, his capacity to resist pressures from the Central government in Delhi and the mainstream parties in Jammu & Kashmir would be surely watched with great deal of interest by both the people and as well as eye watchers in Jammu & Kashmir. Balancing in selections of domiciles and PRC (Permanent Residence Certificate) holders by all standards of understanding would be a more serious challenge for Sharma than the regional balancing between Jammu & Kashmir regions and his new role as such would have an everlasting impact on his professional integrity in his last innings as head of the Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission.
Hope Sharma would resist the pressures from all quarters within and outside Jammu & Kashmir and shun the routine practices of bureaucratic compromises to accord highest priority to merit and performance for furthering the causes of institutional transparency and professional integrity.
Government’s decision to allow the domiciles to enter any selection fray without producing domicile certificates in the beginning would by all standards of understandabilities attract mass objections from the PRC (Permanent Residence Certificate) holders and trigger a political row to see Sharma beginning his innings as J&KPSC Chairman with a huge controversy. Though the onus for resolving the controversy triggered by the government’s decision of allowing domiciles to enter selection frays without producing domicile certificates in the beginning lies on the government but finally the decision once applied to J&K PSC selections would bring it’s chairman at the centre of a controversy. Since the working of the Public Service Commission won’t be the domain of Chairman only as some other retired senior IAS and IPS officers would be also be appointed as members of the commission, all depends on the final composition of the commission. Infighting within the J&K Public Service Commission is a precedence which Sharma’s predecessors resisted with full strength but not to their satisfaction. The ability of Sharma to resist pressures from even the members of the commission would be also worth watching. Interestingly the reputation of several predecessors of Sharma including the likes of Akhter Murtaza was badly hit due to their controversial style of working. Siding with the government one way or the other would erode the sanctity of the highest office at the public service commission and strict adherence to merit, performance and transparency would change the impression about Sharma’s compromising style of working in the eye of people. Hope Sharma would resist the pressures from all quarters within and outside Jammu & Kashmir and shun the routine practices of bureaucratic compromises to accord highest priority to merit and performance for furthering the causes of institutional transparency and professional integrity.