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| Corruption rampant in J&K, existing laws ineffective | | Finance Commission Report -1 | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Aug 17: Stating that corruption is all pervasive and omnipresent, State Finance Commission (SFC) has termed existing conventional laws ineffective and emphasized upon the need for strengthening anti-graft institutions.
The commission has in sharp tone stated that state has been unable to tackle the menace of corruption. The commission has in its report submitted to the Jammu and Kashmir government stated that acts to deal with rampant graft and blatant embezzlement of public money are falling short of the need and existing apparatus to deal with corruption has not touched the "subjects beyond the fringes."
The voluminous report, a copy of which is with Early Times newspaper, highlights that corruption, in its different forms, has overtaken society so deeply that state government has also got affected by this perilous virus. Report has even gone to the extent of identifying offices where corruption is rampant and while calling them citadels of corruption and festering sores advised government for taking special care of these offices which have otherwise become money minting houses.
The commission has found the situation so alarming that it has advised the government to install closed circuit cameras and other electronic gadgets for keeping a check on this menace. It has said that laws to deal with rampant graft and blatant embezzlement of public money are week and the existing machinery to deal with corruption has not touched the subjects beyond the fringes.
The report has called offices of Regional Transport Officers in Jammu and Kashmir, and their sub-offices in the districts, all traffic postings and office of traffic commissioner as citadels of corruption. About these offices, the report has said that role of ethics and pubic morality in allotment of public contracts, procurement of material, engagement of public servants, disposal of business in offices and courts, issuance of permits and licenses, manufacturing of goods and pharmaceuticals, and even plying of vehicles on the highway is depressingly poor.
It has asserted that pace of investigation in corruption related cases, filling up of cases in the anti-corruption courts and their disposal is tardy and the investigation mechanism is dilatory and the methodology adopted for it is time consuming, yielding no results. The report underlines that at present, nothing can be achieved without greasing the palms.
The report has taken to task the government policy to extend largesse in the form of medals, out of turn increments and promotions. The report concludes that it is invariably proving counter-productive and must be avoided. SFC has maintained that permits, licenses, release of salaries, stipends and permission must be made transparent.
It has also given some advice to the state government. It has stated that postings to lucrative jobs should be made after due scrutiny of names and the officials who always hanker for such jobs must be avoided. It has said that State Vigilance Organization (SVO) is not working independently and has invariably been part of police organization, thus finding it difficult to work beyond confines of police regulatory system.
The 3-member panel, headed by former bureaucrat Dr. Mehmood-ur-Rehman, was constituted in 2007 to suggest measures for bringing reforms in the administration and for equitable development of all the three regions of the state. The other members of the panel included Swami Raj Sharma from Jammu and Sonam Dava from Ladakh region. Both has written dissenting notes on the report. |
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