GAD officers unaware of response to notice inviting nominations
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 11: The Government is dilly-dallying on the appointment of one more Vigilance Commissioner in the Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance Commission despite the fact that the post is lying vacant during the past nearly one and half year and creating impediments in functioning of the Commission up to certain extent.
As per the provisions of the J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011, the Government in the month of October last year appointed retired IPS officer P L Gupta as Chief Vigilance Commissioner and retired IAS officer Gazzanfer Hussain as Vigilance Commissioner.
However, another post of the Vigilance Commissioner was kept vacant by the Government at that time for unknown reasons despite being aware of the fact that Full Commission would go a long way in timely disposal of complaints highlighting offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act by public servants, corporations, Government companies, societies and local authorities owned or controlled by the Government.
After remaining in deep slumber over filling up of vacant post of Vigilance Commissioner for several months, the General Administration Department vide Notice No.GAD(Vig)5-Adm/2010 dated May 18, 2018 invited nominations from all the Administrative Secretaries for the appointment against the vacant post of Vigilance Commissioner by May 30, 2018.
The Administrative Secretaries were also apprised of Section 3(3) of the J&K State Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Act, 2011 which provides that the Vigilance Commissioner shall be appointed from amongst the persons who have been or are in All India Service or in any civil service of the State or in a civil post under the State having knowledge and experience in the matters relating to vigilance law, finance, policy making and administration including police administration.
Even the guidelines for appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioners issued vide notification dated December 29, 2011 were shared with the Administrative Secretaries to facilitate them in sending nominations for the vacant post of the Vigilance Commissioner.
“However, the process has not reached the logical conclusion till date due to dilly-dallying approach of the Government “, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “due to non-serious approach of all the concerned authorities the post of Vigilance Commissioner is lying vacant during the past nearly one and half year”.
It is pertinent to mention here that posts of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioners had fallen vacant in months of February and March 2017 respectively. While new CVC and one Vigilance Commissioner were appointed in October last year, the post of second Vigilance Commissioner is still lying vacant.
“No doubt the Chief Vigilance Commissioner and one Vigilance Commissioner have been leaving no stone unturned in disposal of complaints highlighting offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act but the fact that delay in appointment of second Vigilance Commissioner is hampering the functioning of Commission up to certain extent cannot be denied”, sources said.
The shocking aspect is that none of the concerned officers in the General Administration Department is aware of the response to the notice inviting nominations from the Administrative Secretaries.
“We will have to check the record to ascertain as to how many nominations were received from the Administrative Secretaries for the post of Vigilance Commissioner”, they said when contacted.
An officer in the State Vigilance Commission, when contacted, said, “we have not heard any word of positive development from the General Administration Department following issuance of notice inviting nominations from the Administrative Secretaries for the post of Vigilance Commissioner”.
He, however, hoped that during the present Governor’s rule some headway would be made towards filling the vacant post of Vigilance Commissioner.
“Keeping in view the increasing number of complaints being received by the Commission it is high time for the Government to fill the vacant post of Vigilance Commissioner without any further delay so as to ensure smooth functioning of the Commission at all levels”, sources stressed.
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