JAMMU: If blatant behaviour is something that the corrupt, banal officials in Jammu & Kashmir are known for, they had perhaps not counted on an inquiry ordered to lead to this fate for 103 government employees. On Monday, five brothers from a single family in Budgam, who were all appointed in one selection list, in the Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES) department, were terminated through an order issued by the Home Department. The termination order, GO No 608 dated 15-12-2025, has been issued by Home Secretary Chandrakant Bharti and reads: In view of the facts and circumstances explained hereinabove, it is hereby ordered that the appointment of 103 candidates as Firemen in the F&ES Department, whose names and particulars are given in the Annexure-A, are declared illegal, void ab initio, and are hereby terminated with immediate effect. These individuals should, accordingly, cease to be borne on the establishment of the Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES) Department with effect from the date of issuance of the order.
The LG had ordered an inquiry into alleged fraud and manipulation in the appointments in the F&ES Department to be conducted by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) years ago. It needs to be pointed out here that such fraudulent appointments were fairly common in the past in J&K. Be it in Jammu & Kashmir Bank, or in various government departments like education, revenue and even police. There were appointments made in this manner even to gazetted posts and beneficiaries included sons, daughters and relatives of ministers, top bureaucrats and politically well connected. Rarely did any state government issue termination orders. Even when such cases came out in the public domain, it sometimes happened that those who pointed out the frauds were themselves given similar positions! It was more the domain of courts where those appointed to government jobs in this fraudulent manner were terminated.
During the past two decades or more, no political government, be it of the National Conference (NC), or one headed by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has terminated any government employees in this manner. It seems the termination of the employees is just one visible step in the public domain as further inquiries against officials involved in the commitment of this fraud are ongoing. Some of these officials themselves may have to be terminated on a later date but that will be a difficult task.
The termination order of 103 firemen appointed in the Fire & Emergency Services (F&ES) Department has been issued after an inquiry and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation established large-scale irregularities and manipulation in the recruitment process conducted in 2020. The written examination, conducted on September 20, 2020, resulted in a selection list (Order No. 823 of 2020, dated October 4, 2020) of 690 candidates: 592 Firemen and 98 Firemen Drivers.
It was in August 2020 only, barely a month before the conduct of this examination that Mr Manoj Sinha had assumed the charge as Lieutenant Governor of J&K. The ACB’s probe revealed that the question papers were beyond the comprehension level of candidates with the minimum required qualification (8th standard). It also needs to be pointed out that the bare minimum qualification needed for these posts has been deliberately, and in a wanton manner kept very low. The ACB clearly proved that 109 selected candidates were found to have scored below the cut-off mark. However, they were fraudulently awarded higher marks (candidates with scores of 11, 17, or 24 were shown to have secured as much as 90).
The most glaring cases in the selection list pertained to a single family from Budgam of which five real brothers were shown as having been selected and many relatives of F&ES officials.
The government order stated that the action follows the findings of an Inquiry Committee constituted in 2022, which examined allegations of paper leakage, tampering of OMR sheets, manipulation of merit lists and other irregularities in the selection process. The inquiry recommended a criminal investigation, following which the ACB registered FIR No. 01/2025 and conducted a detailed probe. The investigation revealed extensive manipulation of answer sheets, fabrication of scanned images, digital tampering and illegal alteration of merit lists in favour of 106 candidates.
It was established that these candidates were awarded marks far exceeding their actual performance, and several beneficiaries also admitted to paying illegal consideration, officials said.
Out of the 106 candidates found to have secured appointments fraudulently, the services of three were earlier cancelled for failure to complete mandatory formalities. The remaining 103 appointees have now been terminated with immediate effect, with the government declaring their appointments illegal and void ab initio.
The order stated that since the appointments were obtained through fraud and criminal means, the terminated individuals do not enjoy protection under Article 311 of the Constitution.
It also cited judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Court of J&K and Ladakh, which holds that appointments secured through fraud do not attract the safeguards of departmental inquiry or principles of natural justice.
The government noted that continuation of such illegally appointed candidates would amount to perpetuating illegality and undermine public trust in recruitment processes. Consequently, the 103 individuals shall cease to be borne on the establishment of the Fire & Emergency Services Department with immediate effect.
