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| Despite best intentions, has Omar Abdullah failed his own promises? | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, July 8 : Slowly but steadily the state government is falling back on its promises as misgovernance, nepotism and lack of administrative control touch new heights in the state.
When Omar Abdullah took office here in 2009, there was a general impression that in contrast to his father, the scion of the Sheikh dynasty did not carry any baggage of the past. Omar Abdullah came to power with a clean slate. Nobody could point out a whiff of corruption charge at him personally. Omar could not be blamed for having helped or protected a corrupt official or a corrupt politician. He made it amply clear to his cabinet colleagues, senior bureaucrats and police officers that he would be the last person to come to their rescue if anyone of them was found involved in corruption, nepotism and other forms of misconduct.
There was a general sense of unease in the political and administrative circles of the state. The youngest chief minister of the country was not as soft as his father and perhaps also not as accommodating and negotiable as his grand father.
During the course of the earlier meetings he took, Omar Abdullah could also notice the uncertainty and discomfort among the politicians and the bureaucrats who attended those meetings. Omar Abdullah did not need to rebuke anyone. A slant of his eye-brows was enough to send shock waves down the corridors of power in the civil secretariate.
His party men were the most frightened because they had to do most of explaining for their interference in government functioning based on personal and monetary considerations. Most of his party men knew the chief minister knew what they had been doing in the past.
Omar Abdullah has still not completed three years in power and alas that fear and uncertainty which the corrupt and inefficient bureaucrats and politicians had has evaporated like ether. The truth is that nobody can still raise a finger against Omar Abdullah. His personal integrity, well meaning intentions and the desire to take the state forward to greater heights of development and prosperity, are qualities which Omar Abdullah has retained till date. And still, his ministers, party men, bureaucrats and other power centres those have come into being have started taking the chief minister for granted.
Charges of serious corruption are investigated by the state vigilance commission which is headed by one of the most honest police officers of the state. These charges are prima facie proved and the vigilance organization approaches the chief minister's office for formal sanction to prosecute the corrupt officers. In some of the most surprising and shocking moves, the vigilance commission is denied the formal sanction to prosecute the officers against whom cases have been investigated and sufficient material has been dug out to turn them over to the justice of the court.
It is also painful that certain unseen hands are mounting pressure on the state vigilance commissioner not to press for prosecution in such cases. Otherwise, there is no explanation for the fact that despite the state vigilance commissioner having inherent powers to go ahead and prosecute the accused officers even when there is no formal sanction from the government for such a prosecution, why has an officer of P.L. Gupta's integrity chosen to remain silent in such cases?
It is highly unlikely that such a decision has been taken by somebody other than the chief minister himself to turn down the vigilance request for sanction to prosecute the accused officers.
If it be accepted that anybody other than Omar Abdullah took the decision to disallow the prosecution of the corrupt officers then Omar has allowed his powers to be used by somebody who is bringing in the chief minister's image and his office into disrepute.
How can the chief minister, despite his best intentions, convince the people that he still stands by the lofty promises made by him against corruption, in favour of transparent governance, for upholding the rule of law and lead from the front when he himself disallows prosecution of the most corrupt officers working at some of the most crucial positions in the government? |
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