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| Why J&K needs depoliticised bureaucracy | | |
Mohammad Hamzah
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Apr 2: For more than a decade now, bureaucrats with political links while in service and then contesting elections after their retirement has almost become an institutionalized pattern in Jammu and Kashmir.
For instance, at least three former Chief Secretaries had made their political ambitions clear even as they were in the office. On attaining superannuation or seeking premature retirement from service, they promptly jumped into the politics.
Former Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya joined the National Conference (NC) as soon as he retired from office in 2007. His successor, B R Kundal unsuccessfully contested the 2008 Assembly polls on a Congress ticket after resigning before the Amarnath land row.
Another former Chief Secretary Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, once known for his proximity with the Abdullahs, was the campaign manager for former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during the 2008 Assembly elections. He left the NC to join Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a few days before the 2014 Assembly elections.
Ghulam Qadir Pardesi, a retired District Commissioner, was one of the founding members of the PDP. But he divorced the PDP after his defeat in the 2008 Assembly polls and joined the NC. Pardesi later entered the Legislative Council as a member of the NC.
In fact, even non-local bureaucrats haven't resisted the temptation of power politics in the state. B R Singh, an IAS officer who served as Principal Secretary to then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, went whole hog to identify himself with NC. Singh had to opt for premature retirement after NC lost power in 2002.
This overtly political behavior of bureaucrats is believed to be because of vacuum in the ranks of political parties and politicized way of decision-making.
"Political parties always feel the need to have well-known faces without any political baggage to be in their ranks. The pattern in the state also has to do with some decision-making by bureaucrats that they later want to blame others for," a political analyst said, wishing not to be named.
In fact, young Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officers who joined services few years ago had this to say about their superiors: "They are averse to change and innovation. Majority likes to please their political bosses, and irony is that they maintain political affiliation too openly and brazenly. They are so loyal to their political bosses that they even cover their follies. No doubt some are honest, and they don't take money themselves, but they do not hesitate to act as conduit for their bosses."
'Political' babu marred career of many aspiring medicos
The story of Mushtaq Ahmed Peer, former chairman of J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE), tells us why there is an urgent need for ending bureaucracy-political nexus in the state.
64-year-old Peer is currently lodged in Srinagar's Central Jail after he was arrested by the Crime Branch of police on November 23, 2013 in the infamous cash-for-paper scam in Common Entrance Test-2012.
Before his appointment as BOPEE chairman, Peer headed University of Kashmir's Computer Centre. He was even hired as consultant for fast-track employment for Class-IV posts by the J&K government after his retirement.
Known for his links with the political class, Peer has been described as the main accused by the Crime Branch in the test paper leakage racket for the 2012 MBBS entrance examinations in which test papers were leaked in advance to aspirants who paid hefty sums of money to get selected for the course.
In its investigation, the Crime Branch had established that Peer had set up a separate examination centre in Srinagar city for the candidates who had paid him money. At least 40 students had purchased the question papers a day before the examination, according to Farooq Ahmad Itoo, who was one of the two brokers for Peer, and later turned approver for the investigators.
The Crime Branch said Peer had sold off question papers to brokers like Farooq Itoo for Rs 65 lakh and they, in turn, earned Rs 5 crore by way of collecting money from the parents of the beneficiary students in the 2012 session. Peer owns two flats in New Delhi, a flat and a house in Jammu, two acres of land at Ganderbal in central Kashmir and one house in Srinagar, according to the Crime Branch.
"This is a fittest case where jail and not bail is the appropriate remedy," the court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption Kashmir, Mohan Lal Manhas had ruled while rejecting Peer's bail plea.
Court said that Peer "like Caesar's wife" was required to be above suspicion and must have discharged his duties honesty as chief of the BOPEE, but by indulging in "mega paper selling scandal Peer exhibited a character unacceptable to the society."
"Accused was holding public office; his function was one of the essential functions of the state. In discharge of his functions and duties, he was representing the state," the Court said. It said Peer was required to exhibit himself as a "person of impeccable integrity, unimpeachable character, honest to the core with the high moral values."
"But reverse has happened as accused (Peer) by indulging in 'mega paper selling scandal' for monetary considerations, has exhibited a character unacceptable to the society. This is a case of high public importance," the court said, adding, "There can never be more graver and heinous crime than the accused being charged of selling the merit of intellectuals and meritorious students."
In such a situation, it's obvious that most of the bureaucrats in J&K are being perceived by the people as authoritative figures who belong to elitist class with little or no understanding of the things on the ground.
"What we badly need is a depoliticised Civil Secretariat, as this politicisation of bureaucracy has weakened our democratic institutions," the analyst added. |
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