Asif Iqbal Naik
Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 9: Nearly 15 influential officers, who illegally held the HoD or equivalent level posts in the ousted NC-Congress regime, are lobbying hard to ensure that they get the special KAS grade despite the fact that matter is sub judicious.
Sources told Early Times that the seniority issue of KAS officers remained hanging for 6-years as a lobby of these officials ensured that their political bosses don't take any decision over it. "The old agenda was followed in violation of the Supreme Court orders and the selection grade/special scale of KAS was released in favour of those who were not even eligible," sources alleged.
In this regard, the Supreme Court had asked the state High Court to dispose of the matter finally within two months and accordingly the case is listed for March 24, 2015, but the government instead of waiting for the court verdict, according to the sources, is in a hurry to release the grade in favour of these "ineligible officers" which could further complicate the issue and shower undue benefit upon those who otherwise have lost the case even in the Supreme Court.
Early Times has learnt from reliable sources that the GAD has admitted that if the court order is taken in literal sense then the selection/special grade of KAS cannot be released in favour of a few officials who were appointed in the feeding services of KAS after 1999, but still the GAD has tactfully recommended release of grade in their favour. Besides, some officers have not been shown as the petitioners while the fact is that they are petitioners before the court.
Meanwhile, about 45 officers who have been put on officiating basis at the level of Special Scale were also to be reverted and the adhoc arrangement only allowed to be continued as per the judgment of Single Bench as ordered by the Supreme Court, but even then no progress seems to have been made on that account by the government and instead the officers are lobbying hard to continue on these posts and are finding ways and means to get close to the power corridors either as personal staff or as Special Secretary in Chief Secretary/ Chief Minister's Secretariat.
It is pertinent to mention here that about 15 officers are illegally manning HoD posts while they are not even KAS/IAS but are holding the posts purely due to their political clout throwing all the rules to winds. They include Director Sericulture Farooq Malik, who is associate Professor of SKUAST, Jamwal, Director Agriculture, who is neither KAS nor IAS, G N Qasba, Commissioner Municipal Corporation Srinagar, Tufail Matoo, MD Cable Car Corporation, who is AEE, and Nahida Soz, MD women Development Corporation, who is Assistant Professor of IMPA. |
