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| Retired in 2007; official continues to hold office, will continue till 2014 | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 24: Notwithstanding a clear-cut Cabinet order of 2007 which says that "re-employment of a retired Government servant shall be for a maximum period of one year, a Private Secretary with a Minister who retired in December 2007, continues to hold the office since that day. Interestingly the official has formed a clout around his office leading to corruption and favoritism.
SK Arora Private Secretary to Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control who retired in December 2007 was, at the first instance, given extension of one year in January 2008. Arora lost his extension in the middle when Ghulam Nabi Azad led coalition Government was toppled in July/August 2008 following Shri Amarnath land row. However, Arora was re-appointed in January 2009 as Special Assistant to the Minister quo- terminus with the term of office of the Minister which means Arora will continue till 2014 elections for 7 long years since his first extension.
Sources said that Arora has developed a huge network of corrupts around him and has amassed wealth through corrupt practices. " He is realizing huge amounts from engineers while effecting their transfers" an engineer of PHE department said adding that Arora has amazed wealth in nexus high rank engineers. "From Junior Engineers to Chief Engineers, Arora has fixed rates for the transfer," he said.
On whether the concerned Minister was aware of this, the engineer said that the Minister is totally innocent who do not know what Arora was doing under his nose. "Minister is not knowing what his Special Assistant was doing and how, Arora is playing his innings very cleverly," the engineer said.
He said that Arora has involved his business partner in the transfer industry and both are ruling the roost. "It is actually Arora and his partner who are effecting transfers in PHE department on first come first serve basis," he said.
However, another engineer, on the conditions of not to be named, said that Arora was hand in glove with Chief Engineers and they together put the transfers on sale.
It is amazing that while the huge armies of unemployed youth continues to swell with the numbers crossing six lakh mark, the State Government's re-employment policy for 'favourite' civil servants continues unabated despite severe criticism by civil society and media. Official figures suggest that Omar Abdullah led coalition Government is continuing with the practice of picking up its "favourite and influential" officials for re-engagement, extensions or re-employment.
In brazen violation of its own decisions taken from time to time, extension, re-appointment and re-engagement of retired blue eyed bureaucrats and officials close to the power corridors continues unabated.
This, according to observers, doesn't go well with the State's rising graph of unemployment, with a latest survey revealing that the State has more than 5.97 lakh unemployed youth registered. Even the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been repeatedly saying that any move to raise the retirement age of employees from the present 58 to 60 years will severely hurt the interests of the educated unemployed.
Notwithstanding this unemployment crisis, which the Government has miserably failed to address, at least 92 officials have been granted extension in service or re-engaged since 2007 after their retirement, most of them quietly.
Senior Government officials admit that no fixed criteria, based on merit and contribution to State, is followed for re-engaging people. "In the name of extension in services/re-employment future prospects of in-service officials are being hampered and job opportunities for the unemployed youth blocked," says a senior Government officer, on the conditions not to be named. "The 2007 Cabinet order has been very brazenly flouted. On the one hand, Government is crying hoarse over unemployment, but on the other, officials are re-employed every now and then."
Officials say the trend to re-employ officials leads to corruption. "This is, in one way or the other, leading to instances of corruption and favouritism, which needs to be discouraged for better governance," said the official. |
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