JAMMU, Aug 21: Fourteen serving officers of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS) are being inducted into Indian Administrative Services (IAS), as per a communication of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) received by the General Administration Department (GAD) of the UT administration.
In its two-day meeting held in New Delhi on April 23 and 24, 2026, the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) had cleared induction of 14 serving JKAS officers into IAS. Rest nine vacancies of retired JKAS officers will be carried forward to next year.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the GAD J&K has received a communication from MHA and DoPT seeking consent of 14 JKAS officers for their induction into IAS. The consent, they said, is taken as some of the officers may not like to get inducted into IAS.
“The communication states that 14 JKAS officers have been cleared for induction into IAS and their consent may be sent to the MHA and DoPT for issuance of formal notification and allotment year of induction to the officers,” the sources said.
Fourteen officers cleared for induction into IAS subject to their consent are Babila Rakwal, Shabnam Kamili, Rachna Sharma, Leena Padha, Rajinder Singh Tara, Tariq Hussain Ganai, Munir Ul Islam, Sajjad Hussain Ganai, Anoo Malhotra, Nitu Gupta, Prediman Krishen Bhat, Bhawani Rakwal, Smita Sethi and Anuradha Gupta.
“There were a total of 23 vacancies for induction of JKAS officers into IAS. Nine vacancies of retired JKAS officers will be carried forward to next year and JKAS officers will be eligible for induction into IAS along with other posts which will become available or will be due by that period,” the sources said.
As per the procedure, soon after obtaining letters of consent, or otherwise, from 14 JKAS officers cleared for induction into IAS, the GAD will submit them to the MHA and DoPT which will then issue formal notification of induction of the officers followed by the years of allotment as per the available vacancies.
Majority of the officers have been inducted against 2019 vacancies while rests were cleared for the year 2020.
The officers once inducted into IAS will get the AGMUT cadre. With Jammu and Kashmir now part of AGMUT cadre, the officers of All India Services are posted in the States/UTs which are part of the it including Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli/Daman & Diu, and Lakshadweep.
The UPSC met in New Delhi on April 23 and 24 with top officials of the J&K administration and MHA officials to take up the proposal for induction of JKAS officers into IAS as per the vacancies already identified for the years 2019 and 2020.
This is after nearly four years that the JKAS officers have been inducted into IAS as the last induction took place on August 4, 2022 when 16 JKAS officers made it to the IAS. Since then, the inductions didn’t take place despite identification of vacancies because of legal wrangles.
A total of 28 JKAS officers were cleared for induction on July 8, 2022 but 11 of them were later dropped as eight had retired from the services, two refused induction and one had died while fate of another was kept in sealed cover.
Induction of JKAS officers into IAS was not carried out for nearly 12 years because of seniority disputes, legal hurdles etc from 2010 to 2022.
