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| Vohra proposes, Govt disposes | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, November 28:
The Chief Secretary) should conduct an exercise to ascertain information. Similar problems exist in other departments and, if so, same appropriate guidelines/ directions to concerned Administrative Secretaries for time-bound rectifications.
These laudatory remarks were written by the Governor, Mr N N Vohra, over a year ago while endorsing his advisor Tybaji’s views about the far-reaching changes that had been introduced in the Agriculture Department.
Prior to that, Mr Tybaji was full of praise for the Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Mrs Sonali Kumar, for the manner in which she had tried to settle the seniority of over 850 officers in the department. Ad hocism had prevailed in the department for the last couple of decades and very junior officers were holding important positions due to the pick and choose policy being followed by the government.
Commenting on Mrs Kumar’s settlement of the long pending issue of seniority, Mr Tybaji had said: `` … I feel that the steps taken by the Principal Secretary (Agriculture) were the only way out of an impossible impasse. I had failed to deal with this issue in the 1 ½ years I spent as FC (Agriculture and Rural Development) & the subsequent five years as Chairman PSC (Public Service Commission).’’
``Today we have only three confirmed Joint Directors of Agriculture (posted as in charge Directors). All the rest of the Gazetted cadre (other than two Deputy Directors) are not confirmed by DPC/PSC and the functioning has been queered by orders in a number of writ petitions.’’
``The present exercise has been arrived at after the Principal Secretary (Agriculture) managed to get a consensual agreement to the course of action proposed from various associations representing different categories of officers. Persons agitated against the orders are believed to number not more than 15 who prospered under a regime where there was no regular seniority …’’
When Mr Vohra endorsed Mr Tyabji’s remarks regarding Mrs Kumar, he was the most powerful person in Jammu & Kashmir as he was heading the state government after the untimely demise of the Ghulam Nabi Azad government.
What is the present government doing to settle the case of seniority, once and for all, in the Agriculture Department?
If sources in the department are to be believed, the government has ordered an inquiry into this case of settlement of seniority dealt with by Mrs Kumar to see if any irregularities have been committed. The inquiry will be conducted by the Commissioner/Secretary (Home), Mr Samuel Verghese.
Mr Verghese has been given 45 days’ time to do the needful so that the seniority of the gazetted cadre in the Agriculture Department can be settled once and for all. He is thus reportedly wading through hundreds of files to resolve the issue.
Officials in the Agriculture Department believe that Mr Verghese will need far longer than 45 days to work through these files. An extension in the time limit for inquiry is thus a foregone conclusion.
``Mr Verghese is now doing what (settling the seniority) the Public Service Commission (PSC) should have been doing through DPC,’’ an Agriculture Department official remarked about the inquiry.
Pointing out an instance of the ad hocism that prevailed before the last year’s settlement of seniority, the official said: ``One of the junior most Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO), Mr Gulzar Ahmed Shah, was holding four district level posts, superseding hundreds of his colleagues, in Anantnag district, before the rationalisation.’’
Mr Shah was reportedly holding posts which he was not entitled to but was bestowed the honours as he is closely related to a leading political family of Anantnag, according to sources.
There were many others like him who held important positions in the Agriculture Department, not because of their seniority and competence, but political connections. It is these people who are behind the inquiry, an official alleged. |
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