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| Laharwal untouched, Urban Local Body wrong goes unnoticed | | Politically influential cakewalk story! | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Nov 19: High profile political connections and backing of a select coterie of officers has allowed ex-Director Urban Local Bodies S.A.Laharwal to remain unscathed despite having committed a serious administrative wrong.
If sources are to be believed, he was neither asked about the wrong nor was any explanation sought from him for what officers describe as thoroughly unprofessional conduct. Laharwal was not even once asked to explain his position vis-à-vis the administrative wrong committed by him, assert sources. None from GAD to Chief Secretary's office took note of this KAS officer's doing.
According to the official documents available with Early Times, Laharwal issued a circular no. DULB / PS/004-50, Dated 09-04-2012 giving detailed account of illegal and backdoor appointments made in municipal institutions of Kashmir alongwith upgradation, promotions and regularisations done in complete violation of rules and regulations. After giving detailed account of wrongs, Laharwal asked the executive officers to strictly adhere to circular instructions and release the salary/wages in favour of the genuine employees of their respective institutions.
Prior to this, salaries of these employees had been stopped. Laharwal, without making a mention of mechanism to be adopted for verifying genuine employees asked the departmental officials to release their wages. According to the circular, Laharwal admits that illegal appointments have been made over the years in different Municipal institutions of Kashmir division by "incompetent authorities without following the due procedures as envisaged in the relevant provisions of the law and the standing instructions of the government."
It further says that government vide order No. 110 - HUD of 2011, dated 20.04.2011 has constituted a committee to look into these irregularities and the panel has submitted its report to the Government along with explicit recommendations. Circular asked administrators of Municipal Councils and Committees to release salary/wages only in favour of genuine employees of their respective institutions, who are appointed by competent authorities under rules.
Surprisingly, two days later, Laharwal issued another circular vide No DULB/Estt-471-515 to supersede the earlier circular seeking halt on wages of all the employees whether appointed legally or illegally. The circular read as "Pending decision on the report of high-level committee constituted by Govt. vide order No 110-HUD of 2011 dated: 20-04-2011 read with Govt. order no. 134-HUD of 2011 dated 3-6-2011with regard to illegal appointments in various Local Bodies of Kashmir Division, the circular instructions issued vide no. DULB/PS/ 004- 50, dated 09-04-2011 are put in abeyance till further orders."
It needs to be reiterated that there are allegations of hundreds of illegal appointments having been made in Urban Local Bodies of Jammu and Srinagar over the years. After the recruitment racket surfaced last year, concerned Minister repeatedly went public on promising action against the illegal appointees. |
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