Member of Parliament from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal Friday said that there are over 10,000 posts vacant in the region while the recruitment process is halted due to the unclear stand about the constitutional safeguard.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Leh, Namgyal as per news agency KNO, said that it has been 17 months since Ladakh became a separate Union Territory but the government couldn't reduce the unemployment graph as planned while around 500 people have been recruited by LAHDC, Leh, and Kargil, "besides 400 people were recruited under outsourcing".

"The post vacancies have gone up to 7000 now and the Jammu and Kashmir will give away three thousand posts to Ladakh taking the total vacancies to 10,000. Besides 325 gazetted posts will come to Ladakh from there (J&K)," MP said. "So, there is a total of 10,325 pots vacant in Ladakh and it's kind of a package."

"We have made the reservation schedule for the vacant posts (6471) including the SC, ST, and others but we are waiting for the constitutional safeguard to ensure that no non-local resident is eligible for the jobs in Ladakh UT so that the posts are filled employing locals-only," he maintained.

The MP said there was a resentment against the domicile Law in Ladakh by different groups with the result it was not introduced here.

"Later the demand for conditional safeguard under the 6th schedule took reputable shape resulting in withheld of all these vacant posts since people rejected the government's proposal of domicile," he said.  

About the reports of recruitment on basis of Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) obtained in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the MP said that it can't be done since the Article 35A has been abrogated and that certificate is now just a useless piece of paper without any legal backup.

About the language-based constitutional safeguard, Namgyal said that there is a huge population of non-locals who know more about native language than the permanent residents.

"Section 23 clause 10 clearly says that both councils of Leh and Kargil can do council exercise for the promotion of language but cannot give jobs," the MP said