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| Vendetta or what? Of 5 'controversial' IAS officers, govt promotes one | | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
Jammu, Jan 2: Chief Secretary Madhav Lal's administrative skills ensured a higher grade for 1980 batch IAS officer R.K. Jeerath, who was shifted from Health and Medical education department on complaint basis.
He was removed as Principal Secretary (Health and Medical Education) and attached to the General Administration Department (GAD) in during the last budget session following a complaint lodged by MLA Bani Master Lal Chand with speaker of legislative assembly, alleging 'breach of privilege'. Though Jeerath had tendered unconditional apology, it was rejected both by inquiry committee and the house.
Within a day, GAD issued an order, replacing Jeerath with Suresh Kumar. Thereafter, the issue fizzled out and Jeerath was posted DG IMPA. Cabinet today accorded approval to the promotion of Jeerath to the Chief Secretary's grade while denying the same to four other senior IAS officers, one of whom Iqbal Khanday is two batches and four steps senior to Jeerath.
The reason recorded was that a case against Khanday was still pending for disposal in a Chandigarh court. This denial was recommended by a committee headed by the Chief Secretary Madhav Lal with Anil Goswami, (the said IAS officer's 1978 IAS batchmate) acting as member, which met in Jammu on December 27, 2011. This means that while Khanday whose competence is unmatched is considered fit to hold strings of the entire state by being its finance secretary, he can't get to Chief Secretary's grade and thereby challenge the current incumbent Chief Secretary ever.
Known widely as an extremely honest and efficient officer, Khanday would have been Chief Secretary but the government preferred Madhav Lal over him. On the other hand, a 1980 batch officer (i.e. two batches and four steps junior to Khandey), R.K. Jerath has been cleared for this promotion.
Sources whisper in hushed tones that Jerath actually used to the hilt this later position by inviting senior officers from top to bottom for guest lectures and by paying them honorariums liberally for a work which should be considered part of their official duties. Sources say that to favour Jerath, who is retiring in April 2012, authorities had to supersede as many as four officers viz. Mohammed Iqbal Khandey (1978), Dr. Arun Kumar (1979), Sonali Kumar (1979), and P.G. Dhar Chakroborty (1980). They added that such supersession has never happened in the IASS history of J&K.
For Chakroborty, sources said that an imaginary reason of missing ACRs for the years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 was invented. They added that if this would have been true, Chakroborty could have never been empanelled nor posted as Additional Secretary in the government of India. As for the Kumar couple are considered, sources said that a plea was taken that enquiries against them are still pending.
While it can be argued that the state can't do much to expedite the decision in one of the senior IAS officer's case, a retired IAS officer said that nothing should hold state back in concluding its own enquiries against Dr. Arun Kumar and Sonali Kumar. Incidentally, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) as well as the Cabinet Secretary has already held that the charges against Dr. Arun Kumar with respect to his alleged utterances in that infamous June 2008 Amarnath-related press conference totally baseless.
Similarly, as this paper has been reporting, the state High Court has ruled in favour of Sonali again and again with a recent judgment delivered in Srinagar on April 29, 2011 by Justice Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain quoting with appreciation the candid admission of the then-Adviser H.H. Tyabji to Governor N.N. Vohra. Though a senior officer explained that denial of grade to IAS officers against whom either an inquiry is pending or who is facing a court case is nothing new. "Rules stipulate this. I do not feel victimised. Once the court case is over, grade would be automatically released to me," added the officer. |
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