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| 100 days on, where's promised ‘drive against corruption’? | | | Peerzada Ummer
Early Times Report
Srinagar, June 8: The PDP-BJP alliance has completed three months in power but the government's promised drive against widespread corruption in the state is nowhere in the sight.
In fact, the anti-graft bodies in the state including State Accountability Commission (SAC) and State Vigilance Commission are virtually defunct.
During their election campaign and after assuming office, both the PDP and the BJP raised pitch for strengthening the SAC and SVC. So far, however, nothing has been done, prompting many to cast doubts on promises made by both these parties.
The PDP had promised people strong and functional anti-graft bodies to eradicate corruption from the state. Later when the Agenda of Alliance was formed between the BJP and PDP for government formation, strengthening of anti-graft bodies figured prominently in it. "Ensure genuine autonomy of institutions of probity, which include SAC which will be re-designated as Transparency Commission, and an organization which deals with the Right to Information Act," reads the Agenda of Alliance. The BJP continued to raise pitch for anti- corruption measures, saying the state has become the hub of lawlessness and freeing it from such a menace, effective governance is inevitable. But there has been not a single word from the BJP for strengthening the SAC or SVC.
SAC was in the past assigned the task to look into complaints against public servants. While whole of year 2011 was spent by the government for making necessary amendments in the SVC Act, the Commission couldn't be constituted in 2012 owing to queries from Raj Bhavan over the name recommended by the panel headed by then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner.
The impact of non-constitution of the SVC remained evident on ground as no one was ever punished by such a commission. When it was formed more than a decade ago to investigate into allegations of corruption against bureaucrats, ministers and other powerful government functionaries, many had pinned hopes on it, but the SAC proved to be a huge damp squib.
According to the data available with Early Times, SAC has recommended 20 cases involving 42 corrupt bureaucrats and politicians for perusal and further action by the government since it was constituted in 2005 under the Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Commission Act 2002. And out of these 20 cases, the accused have in 14 cases managed to get stay orders from the High Court to prevent any action by the government. The remaining six cases are awaiting follow up action from the competent authorities.
The SAC had registered cases of corruption between 2005-07 and decided them up to 2008. But the government, it is believed, did not challenge the stay orders in the court in none of the cases during the time. No other step was initiated to punish the accused, either.
For instance, in 2007, Ghulam Nabi Qasba, the then Additional Registrar Cooperative Jammu, was indicted by the SAC for shielding a corrupt Junior Assistant who had fraudulently withdrawn Rs 50 lakh from the department accounts. SAC recommended to the government to dismiss Qasba from service under rule 30 of J&K Civil Service (Classification, Control and Appeal), Rules of 1956. Qasba approached the High Court and got the stay orders. He was later elevated as the Director of the prestigious SKICC in Srinagar. No wonder Qasba was later appointed on the powerful post of Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
"But what is shocking is government's lack of will and non-serious approach to punish the corrupt. Undoubtedly, the SAC has been virtually turned into a toothless tiger by none other than the government itself," a senior SAC official said. |
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