Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Jammu and Kashmir’s two principal recruiting agencies, the JKPSC and the JKSSB, together collected more than Rs 82 crore in examination and application fees from job aspirants over a two-year period, according to government data accessed by the news agency Kashmir News Observer.
The break-up shows the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission collected Rs 15,00,99,000 during the period, while the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board accounted for the far larger share at Rs 67,44,41,800. Combined, the two agencies’ collections cross the Rs 82 crore mark, underlining the sheer scale of participation in government recruitment exams across the Union Territory.
Responding to the data, the government said the fees collected are used to partly meet the expenditure incurred through the recruitment process rather than functioning as a revenue stream. It listed a range of cost heads covered by the fee collections, including administrative, technical and logistical expenses, scrutiny and processing of applications, the actual conduct of examinations, engagement of examination centres and manpower, preparation and handling of question papers, security arrangements, IT infrastructure, and the evaluation and declaration of results.
The government further clarified that recruiting agencies fix their fees in line with relevant rules, and that concessions are extended to specified categories of candidates wherever such provisions are admissible. It described this practice as broadly consistent with the fee structures followed by national-level recruiting bodies such as the UPSC and the SSC, positioning J&K’s approach as being in step with established norms elsewhere in the country.
“Accordingly, the examination/application fee is not treated as a source of revenue or profit,” the government said, reiterating that the fee exists primarily to help defray the costs recruiting agencies incur while running the recruitment process, rather than to generate any surplus.
The disclosure comes against the backdrop of continuing scrutiny over recruitment processes in Jammu and Kashmir, where the scale of aspirants appearing for JKSSB and JKPSC examinations each year has made fee collection, expenditure and transparency around the recruitment process a recurring point of public interest.
