Let Mufti lead from front war against corruption - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir

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Let Mufti lead from front war against corruption

7/2/2015 10:03:42 PM

While the coalition Government is yet to provide jobs to several lakh educated youth,who are registered in the employment exchanges in Jammu and Kashmir,it has,however,initiated measures for promoting transparency in the Government functioning by tackling corrupt practices.In fact the Government has started fulfilling its commitment of ending the "deadwood" in the state services and remove those whose bonafides of being honest are in doubt.And to begin with its war against corruption the PDP-BJP coalition Government has terminated the services of 63 officials by conveying to them their forced retirement from civil services on charge of having indulghed in corrupt practices.The process was done with dignity as special messangers were tasked to deliver letters conveying to them that they have been relieved from their duties and they stand forcibly retired to these 63 officials.Special messengers delivered sealed cover letters containing orders of forced retirement to the government officials at their places of posting/residences across the state late on Tuesday evening. According to reports the list of "highly tainted" government officials had been given to Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed by a committee headed by Chief Secretary Muhammad Iqbal Khanday. Reports said that those retired forcibly from their services include some state administrative service officers, engineers and lower rung officials. Retrenchment orders served to these officials also contained cheques for three months of retrenchment emoluments. Well when Mufti Sayeed headed a PDP-Congress coalition Government in 2002 he had initiated action against corrupt officials but the issue remained under the carpet because of many factors.Even around 2011 Omar Abdullah,who headed a NC-Congress coalition Government, too had const ituted a committee for identifying tainted officials so that the "deadwood" and the corrupt officials could be eased out.But Omar Abdullah's plan could not be executed. In 2014, the government had revealed that 600 corruption cases had been registered against state officials.It disclosed that 304 such cases were pending before SVO and Crime Branch. If the Government rests on having forcibly retired 63 officials it may be simply a case of witch hunting because there are scores of officials, engineers, directors, accountants, Managers, Enforcement officers,ward officers, Tehsildars, supervisors, Police officers, BDOs,store keepers and even senior officers in IAS,IPS and KAS and KPs cadre whose credentials as honest officials are in doubt. graft cases are registered against several IAS and KAS officers, The Government is mistaken if it believes that corruption will end with the t ermination of services of 63 or 163 officials.First of all the process of eliminating the corrupt and the deadwood should remain a continuous process. And all those whose cases are pending either with the State Vigilance Organisation or the Crime Branch the two bodies should be asked to expedite the fianlisation of the cases and those involved in some corrupt practice should be terminated from the Government services.The Government should fill the mind of several lakh Government employees, including officers, with scare so that they dare not indulge in corrupt practices. Let the Government set up a committee of inservice and retired officers having a good record of honesty and dignity for acting as a watch dog not only in the civil secretariat but in all the wings of Government departments. This committee should be tasked with the compilation olf list of corrupt and tainted officials.Let the Mufti lead the war against corruption from the front so that the state of Jammu and Kashmir is able to shed its image of being the second corrupt state after Bihar.

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