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| Illegal appointments in Govt departments, PSUs go unnoticed | | Beneficiaries include workers of different parties | | Ishtiyaq Ahmad
ET Report
Srinagar, Oct 28: Though House Committees were constituted in J&K a number of times to look into illegal and backdoor appointments in different departments, especially in the public sector undertakings (PSUs), including urban local bodies, housing corporation, handloom, JKI, handicraft corporation, JK Cement, SFC and others, the successive governments have failed to book officials and politicians involved in these backdoor appointments.
Sources said the government-run corporations and some government departments are battling political intervention in their day-to-day working. "Top officials in the corporations in connivance with some former ministers and politicians have over the years made hundreds of backdoor appointments. The appointments made mostly post-2011 in the National Conference-Congress regime were in violation of the recruitment rules. Most of the beneficiaries were political workers who were adjusted in different corporations without considering fallout on the financial health of the corporations," sources said.
The governments have over the years failed to probe these appointments and book the culprits. "These illegal appointments have direct bearing on the department concerned, especially in the corporations' balance sheets and that the salary bills of the corporations are increasing with each passing year while the profits are declining," sources said.
They revealed that over the years, semi-literate candidates like middle pass, under matric or matriculate have been appointed in many government undertaking corporations and departments.
Many of the backdoor appointees in some corporations were first appointed as consolidated and later placed in the grade pay within shortest possible time by setting all rules and regulations aside.
Sources said the government corporation was self-reliant a few years ago, but now the financial condition of the majority of the corporations has deteriorated. These corporations are struggling to pay the salaries to the employees.
Sources said that dishonest officials have crippled the corporations which are now unable to generate the desired amount of revenue.
Sources said that corrupt officials in these corporations show a large portion of their annual budget as expenditures for various development projects in black and white, although, in reality, most of such projects were not initiated at all.
Many House Committees were constituted to look into the illegal and backdoor appointments. However, these committees never completed the so-called probe.
The sensational revelations about backdoor appointments of blue-eyed persons had surfaced in a government reply in the last Assembly session.
The government had accepted that 22 appointments have been made in various Corporations falling under the Administrative Control of Industries and Commerce Department in last three years.
However, PDP lawmaker Firdous Tak had claimed that over 100 persons were appointed in these departments during previous governments.
Reacting to the allegations, Finance Minister Dr Haseeb A Drabu had assured the House that government will investigate the matter. However, since then there is no headway in this regard.
A government official said, "Though I cannot tell you the exact figure, yes they (daily wagers) were engaged illegally." He said there were clear instructions to departments not to engage daily wagers. "We can engage casual and seasonal labours but not daily wagers," he added.
It is to mention here that, a large-scale illegal appointment racket had been exposed in Urban Local Bodies Department that overlooks the functioning of 83 municipal bodies across the state.
The department had made more than 1,500 illegal appointments, almost doubling the number of employees. The result: funds raised from local tax collection, devolution funds from the states revenue and developmental grants were exclusively utilized to pay salaries.
Sources said that in fact, the J&K government's anti-corruption watchdog, Vigilance Organisation, has been probing serious complaints of irregularities in the Urban Local Bodies Department and other departments, however, the investigations never reached their logical conclusion because the corrupt officials were always shielded by top politicians.
It is to mention here that the Division Bench High Court comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur had slammed illegal/backdoor appointments and had issued guidelines for future recruitment.
"These very important directions have been passed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one who is a retired Assistant Engineer of the state and claimed to be a public spirited person. The contention of the petitioner is that in the state of Jammu and Kashmir about 7893 backdoor appointments were made in about ten departments which led to issuance of Circular number 09-GAD of 2013 dated March 26, 2013 calling upon the authorities to strictly observe the restrictions as contained in section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 (hereafter referred to as 'the Act')," the High court directions had said. |
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