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| Amarnath ghost visits Kumar couple, Sonali gets ‘warning’ letter | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 30: Amarnath land row was settled after months of agitation last year. It has been a year and half since the icon of Amarnath controversy Lt Gen SK Sinha demitted the Raj Bhawan but the religious-environmental-political storm continues to haunt the Kumar couple –Sonali and Dr Arun Kumar, two top IAS officers.
Barely days after government moved court against a CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal) order offering relief to Principal Secretary Dr Arun Kumar that his wife Sonali, currently Principal Secretary Agriculture Department, has been served with a ‘warning’. A letter has been shot off by the Chief Secretary for an ‘inappropriate’ conduct in 2005 and she has been asked to be ‘careful’ in future. The inappropriate conduct, of course, pertains to the Amarnath pilgrimage. A copy of the letter is with Early Times.
It was widely perceived that the Kumar couple was an eyesore for the Peoples Democratic Party regime headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Then came Ghulam Nabi Azad and now Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister but things have hardly changed for Dr Arun and Sonali Kumar.
As the Principal Secretary of Forest, Sonali Kumar had issued a Government Order No 148-SFT of 2005 in March that year allowing the use of 3,642 kanals of forest land for non-forestry purposes in favour of Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board in violation of the Jammu & Kashmir Forest (Conservation) Act, 1947. This order, as per the Chief Secretary’s letter, was in contravention of the rules laid by the then Forest Minister.
It may be recalled here that Dr Sonali Kumar’s this order, at a time when her husband was Principal Secretary to the Governor and also Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, had caused a political storm. The order was though rescinded but on protest from then Forest Minister Sofi Ghulam Mohiuddin, Sonali was shifted out of the Forest Department and subsequently she left on protest leave.
The warning letter to the top bureaucrat has a huge bearing on her career and can mar the prospects of becoming Chief Secretary at a stage. Sonali, a 1979 batch IAS officer is at number 11 in order of seniority of IAS officers. Two officers below her seniority are elder to her by a couple of years and those who may come in competition at the time of selection for Chief Secretary are AK Angurana at number 14 and Khursheed Ganai at number 15.
The warning letter has been served to the Principal Secretary Agriculture after taking opinion of the Law Department. Justifying the action being taken against Kumar, it has been conveyed to her that the (then) government had taken strong notice of her unauthorised action in permitting the ``use of forest land for non-forestry purposes in favour of Shri Amar Nath Ji Shrine Board’’ without following the prescribed procedure.
The letter has reminded her of the fact that a show cause notice had been issued to her in July 2005 for her alleged favour granted to the SASB. Her reply to the show cause issued four years ago has been found ``unconvincing’’. This suggests that three successive chief ministers, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, his successor, Ghulam Nabi Azad and the incumbent, Omar Abdullah, have examined the file regarding the alleged misconduct by Kumar.
The ghosts of the Amarnath land row thus appear to have started haunting the Kumar couple, Dr Arun Kumar, and his wife, Sonali Kumar, both IAS. Sonali Kumar has been ticked off by the chief secretary as she apparently ``did not act with responsibility and issued such orders as showed your scant regard for the law and the prescribed procedure’’.
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