Abdul Majid
ET Report
SRINAGAR, Aug 24: When the Civil Secretariat reopened on Monday after 2-day weekend break, most of the officials and ministers remained busy gossiping the developments of last cabinet meeting where Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khanday remained conspicuous by his absence.
Sources said some of the ministers from the PDP-BJP coalition had decided to transfer scores of officials without taking the Chief Secretary into confidence.
Khanday had conveyed his dismay to the Government, saying, "You don't need Chief Secretary but a steno who takes your dictations," sources told Early Times.
Khanday had skipped the cabinet meeting on the plea that he had to attend a condolence meeting of his relative. "The main reason was not the demise of his relative but strained relations with some of the ministers," the sources said.
A lawmaker from the coalition said it was mandatory for the cabinet ministers to take the Chief Secretary into confidence on transfers.
"The Chief Secretary gives professional opinion about postings of the officials, but his opinion was missing this time," said an official privy to the cabinet meeting.
Quoting an instance, he said Commissioner of Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Tufail Mattoo, was attached within six months of his assuming the charge only because two ministers from the PDP were "not happy with his work."
"With SMC being under the control of Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh of the BJP who also holds the Housing Ministry portfolio, the two ministers managed to persuade Singh so that their choicest official was given charge of the SMC. And this is what finally happened," said the sources, adding that Tufail was replaced with Showkat Ahmed who has "no experience of Srinagar's urban affairs".
Sources said as a "warning" to the Chief Secretary his "close aide" Asif Hamid Khan, MD, J&K Agro Industries Development Corporation, was also attached and asked to report to the GAD for further posting. "This was a deliberate attachment to cut the official to his size," the sources said.
They said the strained relations between a section of ministers and the Chief Secretary erupted last month over appointment of new members for the Public Service Commission.
"Governor NN Vohra had sought relevant documents like 'non-involvement certificate' and Vigilance clearance of the persons to be appointed in the PSC. Even though some of the names were doubtful (for having leaked sensitive information like allotment of land for construction of temples in Kashmir in the past), a coterie of ministers forced the Chief Secretary to instantly issue the certificates," the sources, said, adding that an RTI application into the matter will expose the muck.
Meanwhile, as the Chief Secretary stayed away from the cabinet citing, his absence led to "confusion". While ministers had recommended transfers of officials, their replacement was missing in most of the cases.
"Almost 20 officials transferred were initially not replaced, leaving the chair vacant, and sorting out this problem took whole day," the sources said.
"This was why transfer list was announced late. Though the cabinet was held in the forenoon, the transfer list could be finalized only at 9:30 pm when most of the newspapers were about to send the day's copy to the press," the sources said.
The Chief Secretary could not be contacted for comments. |
