Chief Secretary Chairs 37th Empowered Committee meeting on recruitment rules; committee recommends various amendments

Leh, 09 Oct, 2026: The Chief Secretary, UT of Ladakh, Ashish Kundra, today chaired the 37th meeting of the Empowered Committee to deliberate on key administrative matters concerning Recruitment Rules (RRs) and staffing requirements of various departments of the UT Administration.

At the outset, Administrative Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), Rudra P. T. Goud, presented a comprehensive overview of the agenda items for discussion.

The committee held detailed deliberations on draft proposals submitted by various departments, including matters related to pay levels, the inclusion of posts in the recruitment pool, and other requests concerning the framing and amendment of Recruitment Rules.

The committee also examined the proposed notifications and amendments to the Recruitment Rules of various departments, along with the justifications submitted for the proposed changes.

Emphasising the need for uniformity and consistency, the Chief Secretary stressed that Recruitment Rules should be standardised in accordance with the prescribed norms and guidelines.

Further discussions focused on amendments to the existing and proposed Recruitment Rules, particularly regarding changes in the method of recruitment across various departments, including School Education, Power Development Department (PDD), Social Welfare, Agriculture and other departments.

The committee also reviewed the existing, additional and revised posts proposed by different departments, along with the need for additional provisions to address their specific administrative and functional requirements.

The Chief Secretary emphasised the need to maintain a separate schedule for residual posts and directed the concerned departments to review and rationalise dying posts. He further stressed the importance of standardising Recruitment Rules and addressing inter-departmental variations to ensure uniformity, transparency and consistency in recruitment procedures across the UT Administration.

The committee recommended various amendments to the Recruitment Rules and related provisions after detailed deliberations on the proposals placed before it.

The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner, Shurbir Singh; Commissioner Secretary, Tsewang Tharchin; Administrative Secretary, Law & Justice, Jatinder Singh Jamwal; Administrative Secretary, PD&MD, Himanshu Gupta; Administrative Secretary, SED, Bhanu Prabha; Administrative Secretary, PWD, Baseer Ul Haq Chaudhary; Administrative Secretary, GAD, P. T. Rudra Goud; Administrative Secretary, FC&CA, Rahul Sharma; Administrative Secretary, RDD, Nidhi Malik; and Directors and Heads of Departments of the concerned departments.