Verification of candidates’ character, antecedents | Strictly adhere to guidelines, timelines: Govt to Admin deptts, appointing authorities

Jammu, Jan 18: Taking stringent note of non-compliance of laid down procedure, the J&K government has asked all its administrative departments and appointing authorities to “strictly adhere to the timelines prescribed for verification of character and antecedents of candidates recommended by the recruiting agencies.”

After rolling out of online application portal namely “Employees Verification System (EVS)” for undertaking the process of “Character and Antecedents’ verification of employees”, a set of instructions were issued in terms of Circular No: 18-JK(GAD) of 2022 dated May 20, 2022.

Instructions explicitly mentioned that Personnel Verification Rolls (PVRs) of all candidates would be submitted only through the online mode to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters for verification.

“Manual submission of Personnel Verification Rolls (PVR) shall not be entertained under any circumstances after June 1, 2022...,” it was directed.

“Notwithstanding these laid down procedure and timelines, it has been observed that the timelines for completion of verification of Character and Antecedents of the selected candidates are not being followed in an organized manner and in some cases the verification reports are received after the expiry of the validity period of the select lists. Such cases are being submitted for re-validation of the select lists in relaxation of rules by the competent authority, which otherwise has to be considered only in exceptional circumstances,” GAD Commissioner Secretary has noted, while disapproving non-compliance of instructions issued.

Reiterating instructions, he has directed all administrative departments and appointing authorities to adherence to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) vis-à-vis timelines prescribed.

In this connection, he has also asked all the administrative departments to designate officers of appropriate seniority, as 'Nodal Officer' for the purpose of coordinating and monitoring online “Character and Antecedents (C&A) Verification” application forms submitted to CID, J&K through online portal (EVS).

In respect of cases wherein the Criminal Investigation Department is facing issues with regard to timely furnishing of online C&A verification report requisitioned for the purpose of appointment, the organization has been directed to intimate the requisitioning authority well within the prescribed timelines indicating reasons thereof and seek more time for completion of the process as prescribed in terms of the Government Order No. 528-JK(GAD) of 2021 dated June 21, 2021.

Besides, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been asked to organize a 'special training session' for all such Nodal Officers to address the concerns with regard to submission of incomplete details in online forms and corrective measures to be taken by the departments in facilitating submission forms as per the requirements.

The Nodal Officer has been tasked to ensure that the CID verification required for the purpose of appointments are properly tagged so that it is easy for the verifying authority to differentiate them from the CID verification sought for other purposes.

“The SIO, NIC, J&K, in consultation with CID, J&K may take appropriate up-gradation in the online portal to have such differentiation in place and the process shall be completed within a period of one month,” GAD Commissioner Secretary has directed.

The Nodal Officer or requisitioning authority has been directed to appropriately guide the candidates, at the time of submission of e-verification rolls to be considered for appointment on the recommendations of recruiting agencies, to ensure that the forms submitted are in order and all necessary or required information is disclosed.