J&K’s apex training institute in mess as reorganization conducted haphazardly

Preferential treatment being given to few faculty members
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 11: J&K Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development, an apex training institute of State Government, is in complete mess as the reorganization has been conducted haphazardly with the sole objective of extending favours to certain faculty members. Astonishingly, the communiqué of former Vice-Chairman and Director General of Institute seeking corrective measures to ensure its smooth functioning has not been taken seriously by all the concerned officers of the State.
J&K Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development (J&K IMPARD) is tasked with providing training and to build capacities of different categories of officers and public representatives.  The clientele of the Institute is IAS officers who are given the J&K State cadre, KAS and other Government officers.
The IMPARD is governed by an Executive Council headed by the Chief Minister and is assisted by a Sub-Committee headed by the Chief Secretary. It also hosts State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) established and funded by the Union Ministry of Rural Development with separate financial management.
Till last year there were seven faculties of the IMPARD with the total sanctioned strength of 32 members. But by way of re-organization five Centres of Excellence were created as a result of which Institute lost three faculties of Financial Management, Industrial Management and Communication and Behaviour, sources told EXCELSIOR.
“Not only this, faculty members appointed in different faculties were shifted to those Centres of Excellence where they had no specialization and experience”, sources said while disclosing that reorganization was conducted in violation of rules as in terms of IMPA Memorandum of Association any decision with regard to the faculty has to be necessarily discussed with the faculty of the Institute and then put forth in the Sub-Committee headed by the Chief Secretary before placement in the Executive Council for final decision but these vital forums were completely ignored in the entire process.
It is pertinent to mention here that IMPARD is an amalgamation of two institutes-Administrative Training Institute (ATI) and State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD). Five faculty positions of SIRD are funded by the Union Ministry of Rural Development and as of now posts of only three such faculties have been filled up.
Notwithstanding the fact that Union Ministry of Rural Development has time and again instructed that State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) should be put as a separate entity with separate accounts, in the reorganization all these issues were mixed up thereby creating lot of confusion in the Institute and at the level of Government of India and State Government, sources said.
They disclosed that one of the Professors appointed on SIRD funds has been made Director Trainings IMPARD Jammu with the control of ATI also. Similarly, a Professor of ATI at IMPA Srinagar has been made Director Trainings Kashmir putting even SIRD under him.
As these decisions led to resentment among the members of other faculties and mess in the functioning of IMPARD, the then Vice-Chairman and Director General of the Institute Parmod Jain vide Communication No.PS/VC&DG/2017/12 dated November 8, 2017 sought the intervention of Commissioner Secretary to Government, General Administration Department.
“Neither internal discussions with all stakeholders, especially senior faculty members, were conducted at the time of reorganization nor got the matter vetted by IMPA Sub-Committee headed by the Chief Secretary as a result of which there is a lot of resentment among most of the faculty members both at Srinagar and Jammu. Indeed, the reorganization has created several glaring problems”, read the communication.
“The foremost issue that has arisen is that faculty members with particular specialization have not automatically gone to corresponding Centre of Excellence where their background, research and learning could be effectively utilized”, the communication said while mentioning that the faculty members with background of Behaviour Sciences are now handling training courses in the field of Urban Development and faculty members with background of Industrial Management are now doing trainings in the field of Rural Development.
“Over the years some mismatch has taken place between SIRD and ATI wings and this need to be set right. Actually, the present administrative arrangements of having one Director Training for Kashmir and one Director Training for Jammu has inherent flaws since it strikes at the fundamental institutional difference between ATI and SIRD and this also needs to be revisited comprehensively so that overlap and mismatch is not further exacerbated”, the communication said.
About the Career Advance Scheme, Parmod Jain had stressed that this should be done on the lines of similar schemes available in Universities and Colleges on the basis of UGC norms. Keeping all these aspects in view, the last Vice-Chairman and Director General of IMPARD had stressed the need of conducting fresh reorganization with involvement of both faculty and administration so as to put in place a fresh arrangement in tune with IMPA’s objective and role.
Astonishingly, no serious attention has been paid by the Government towards the communication of last Vice-Chairman and Director General of IMPARD despite the fact that fresh reorganization would remove mess and ensure smooth functioning of apex training institute of State.
It is worthwhile to mention here that at present there is no Vice-Chairman/Director General of IMPARD.

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