news details |
|
|
| Hollow war cries against corruption in J&K | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 19: Despite pronounced commitment by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah,on his resolve to weed out corrupt elements within the State administration and in other spheres of Government activities an impression has gained credence in the State of Jammu and Kashmir that corruption has been institutionalized without any Constitutional validity.What seems to have compounded Omar Abdullah's search for a corrupt free Government and the state administration is the absence of much needed support for the campaign against corruption is from Ministerial colleagues and top bureaucrats. In fact those very agencies that had been set up in the State with the purpose of keeping a strict watch on the corrupt elements within the Government and for initiating proper measures to tame and tackle them have remained ineffective on one reason or the other.
There have been some autonomous bodies, including the State Accountability Commission and the Vigilance Commission, that remained either headless for several years or the quorum of the members remained incomplete. There have been instances where the Vigilance teams have framed charges against some Government officials for having indulged in corrupt practices but invariably most of these officials have been small fries in the state administration or the cases were registered after years of their retirement.Was this exercise carried out simply to keep the record straight ?Whatever may have been the reason for keeping the axe hanging on the head of some retired officials the much expected Government's war against corruption has not taken of during all these four years.
Omar alone cannot be faulted for it.His predecessors too had failed and during the time Ghulam Nabi Azad headed the Government his roar against the corrupt had unnerved many in the State administration.But the ultimate aim of freeing the Government departments from corrupt practices could not be achieved.Azad's tough stand simply changed the traditional practices and those adept in indulging in corrupt practices and revised their rates.
Officials were heard telling their "customers" that since things had become difficult under Azad they would charge higher commission because they did not want to lose their jobs for a penny and started charging pounds.Omar has neither roared against corrupt, nor patronised them,nor identified them nor allowed SAC or VC or other agencies to initiate tough and concrete measures for tackling corruption in the State. Interestingly Jammu and Kashmir,especially the valley, has resisted attempts at importing political, social and cultural trends from rest of the country. And the same State, especially the Valley, has willingly imported corruption which has become part of the Government activity in most of the States in India.
Still the Government is trying to maintain transparency and accountability in governance in Jammu and Kashmir but the NC led ruling coalition has had to admit that corruption was rampant in the State. Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah, who took over four years ago with a clean image, continued to accord priority to present a clean image of his coalition Government. But, the credibility of several of his Cabinet Ministers and bureaucrats has come under scanner over the years for reports of varied malpractices.
Various institutions, set up as watchdogs to ensure transparency in governance, did not prove effective in this direction over the past four years.During the first year of his tenure, the Chief Minister brought up the J-K Right To Information (RTI) Act-2009 to bring transparency in the Government, and was hailed for introducing an element of accountability in the system. But of late, his Government is faced with criticism for trying to make the RTI ineffective and toothless by amending the Act.
Having remained headless for some time, two members were appointed to the State Accountability Commission (SAC). Though initially the SAC tried to take up corruption cases against politicians in particular, its functioning was rendered ineffective by challenging its decisions before the High Court.Another anti-corruption body, the J&K Vigilance Commission, continues to remain non-functional despite the Government having cleared the name of former Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda for the post of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of the State. A Division Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on December 20 had asked the State Government to explain how much time was required for making the State Vigilance Commission functional.
The court had directed the State Chief Secretary to file a fresh compliance report.This indicates that the ruling coalition leaders have lacked the will to crack a whip against corrupt elements for reasons best known to the Chief Minister.If Omar Abdullah wants to contain, he cannot control corruption.It is time that Omar grants full autonomy to the SAC and the VC so that cases were prepared speedily and the corrupt were punished by the courts.There is a widespread demand in the country that special courts be set up for trying rape cases and similarly separate courts be established for hearing cases against corrupt political leaders and bureaucrats on a day to day basis so that stringent court punishment could set the tone against corruption in Jammu and Kashmir. The State needs a whip against corrupt elements because major part of funds earmarked for various development projects was being swindled away by the officials of the executing agencies with the result the state has witnessed poor growth despite liberal financial assistance from the centre. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
