Jammu, Nov 11: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Member of the Legislative Assembly from Doda, Mehraj Malik, has called upon the management of Jammu and Kashmir Bank and the Union Territory administration to urgently relax the upper age ceiling for the recently advertised recruitment drive for Probationary Officers (POs) and Banking Associates.
Addressing media representatives in Jammu on Sunday, Malik highlighted that after a prolonged hiatus of several years, J&K Bank announced 1,356 employment vacancies, raising expectations among thousands of qualified local aspirants. However, due to the lengthy recruitment gap, a vast demographic of educated youth have crossed the stringent 30-year cutoff age while awaiting official notification.
“Parents invest their lifetime savings into educating their children, yet acute joblessness in J&K has reached alarming proportions over the past decade,” Malik said. Drawing a direct comparison with government recruitment norms, he noted that the J&K administration has prescribed an upper age limit of 40 years for various open-merit civil posts. He demanded that J&K Bank align its criteria and elevate the maximum application age to at least 35 years, if not 40, to prevent widespread career disenfranchisement.
The Doda legislator also flagged broader systemic vacancies across public departments in Jammu and Kashmir, criticizing the prolonged freeze on hiring school teachers and healthcare staff across remote Chenab Valley hospitals. He also appealed for rationalizing Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) eligibility rules that currently exclude university graduates from basic applications.
Announcing a grassroots mobilization campaign, Malik stated that AAP leadership will embark on an extensive awareness tour across all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir beginning November 15 from Anantnag, championing youth employment, civic accountability, and basic amenities.
Published by True Roots Media