The Jammu and Kashmir government has cleared the long-pending promotions of 54 faculty members at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, and SKIMS Medical College and Hospital (MC&H), Bemina. The orders, issued on Tuesday, end a wait stretching beyond four years and pave the way for fresh faculty recruitment at institutions that have long been severely understaffed and overstretched.
Government Orders No. 631-JK (HME) and 632-JK (HME), both issued on August 18, 2026, approved the promotions under the Assessment Merit Promotion Scheme (AMPS). The orders, issued by the Health and Medical Education Department, follow recommendations made by the J&K Public Service Commission (JKPSC).
The promotions are also expected to enable fresh faculty recruitment at both institutions. With the long-pending cases now settled, vacant posts created by career progression can be formally identified and taken up for recruitment, stakeholders said — allowing SKIMS, Soura, and SKIMS MC&H, Bemina, to bring in new faculty against the resulting vacancies.
The move may help address persistent manpower shortages and ease the workload on existing faculty at the two already overburdened tertiary-care institutions. SKIMS had initiated a major Assistant Professor recruitment drive through the JKPSC in 2025, with advertisements inviting applications for 68 Assistant Professor posts across various disciplines.
Several faculty members whose promotions became due on July 1, 2022, received formal approval only in August 2026 — a delay of more than four years. Those whose promotions became due in 2023 waited more than three years. One of the most striking delays concerns a rheumatology faculty member at SKIMS, Soura, whose promotion to Professor carried an effective date of July 1, 2021, but was approved more than five years later.
The orders cover faculty from a wide range of specialties, including anaesthesiology, general medicine, pathology, microbiology, medical oncology, respiratory medicine, paediatric surgery, urology, neonatology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, dentistry and human genetics.
The issue of delayed promotions at the premier tertiary-care institute had also reached the courts, with the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court directing SKIMS to complete the stalled promotion process. The Court observed in 2024 that administrative delays were depriving faculty members of career advancement and affecting institutional functioning. SKIMS had invited applications under the AMPS years earlier, but the process had been mired in delays, with court proceedings highlighting concerns over prolonged administrative decision-making and its impact on both faculty members and the institution’s academic environment.
At SKIMS, Soura, 50 faculty members across at least 12 departments were promoted through the orders. At SKIMS MC&H, Bemina, four faculty members received promotions in paediatrics, orthopaedics and dentistry.
