New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS): The Central government has asked Jammu and Kashmir government to make payment to Special Police Officers (SPOs) through Adhaar-linked bank accounts to bring in more transparency, an official said on Friday.

The order was issued by the Union Home Ministry recently.

"The Home Ministry has said to the J&K government that payment has to be made through Adhaar-linked bank accounts through PFMS (Public Financial Management System) by state government before claiming reimbursement from the Centre," said Ministry spokesperson Ashok Prasad.

The Home Ministry also asked the state government to put in place a screening process for recruitment of SPOs and also a review mechanism to review the performance of the existing 31,223 SPOs deployed in the state.

Given the critical role played by SPOs and the popularity of the post, there has been a demand locally for greater transparency to formalise the recruitment procedure and put in place a mechanism to review performance and antecedents.