A farce in the name of “in- depth enquiry”

It is not that the tactics cannot be seen through by all those who would like to know what action has the Government taken against those involved in the “appointments scam” in the Jammu and Kashmir Khadi Village and Industries Board (KVIB) as neither any specific outcome of the in- depth enquiry instituted by the Government in this regard has seen the light of the day nor any brakes applied to granting extensions after extensions to those bureaucrats to whom the task of spilling the beans was assigned. By any account, by now those who flouted the rules, procedures and accepted practices in engaging the eligible candidates in the Department under reference, should have been subjected to the rigours of the law.
Excelsior , through these columns has already dwelt with this scam in details and readers may recall the nuts and bolts of the entire scam of appointments that took place during PDP-BJP Coalition Government in the state wherein relatives of some top leaders of the PDP found their names in the selection list, as against the genuine eligible ones, which was issued early this year. It was after a lot of criticism as also a brouhaha against this act of throwing to winds the norms and set procedures which prompted the then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Feb. 2018 ordering for instituting an inquiry into the entire bungling. The inquiry was to be of a high level category and hence assigned to a panel of bureaucrats. Seven months have elapsed but what has been found by the “high level in-depth ” enquiry has not been made known. Most probably, the proverbial “let the dust settle” syndrome has been chosen as a ploy to save the skin of the wrong doers and rather usurpers of the right of the deserving ones in getting jobs.
We shall not allow that to be the “fate” of this enquiry and the panel comprising of senior bureaucrats. They must seriously attend to the priorities of the aftermaths of this scam as mandated and enjoined upon them by the feelings of the people against such corrupt practices adopted in selection of Government job seekers, in addition to the apparent Government order.
May be the charges and allegations levelled and the complaints made against the selection are of frivolous nature or are not there at all which can come to limelight only when detailed inquiries were made assuming that all records, documents, files and noting etc were not tampered with or destroyed . In the absence of the findings and the complete taciturnity adopted coupled with diversionary tactics, doubts turn into beliefs that not only is something black in the Lentil but the entire lentil is black. The Committee of the bureaucrats was supposed to submit its report within a month, say by April 2018 but having failed to do it , the Government sanctioned one more extension till the end of May but the Committee yet again failed to submit the requisite report.
It is astonishing to observe that after the expiry of the extension of one more month, the General Department as well as the Committee virtually slept over the matter but somehow another extension was “granted” in Sept this year and the Committee asked to comply with the requirements by the end of October 2018. We hope, that the extension of last month granted by the Government would be the last one and the detailed report would be submitted to the Government by the Committee of the senior bureaucrats shortly pinpointing the names of the Officers responsible for making appointments by treating procedures and norms as redundant and optional.

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