Deptts fail to make efforts to get court stays vacated
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 28: Shocking it may sound but it is a fact that Government has failed to initiate appropriate action against several officers and officials, who have been found involved in tampering of their Date Of Birth certificates with the sole objective of prolonging their service period. This is mainly because of the failure of the premier investigating agency of the State to complete the probe in a time bound manner and inability of the concerned departments to get the court stays vacated.
As per the official document, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, majority of cases relating to tampering of Date Of Birth came to the notice of Crime Branch almost three years back but till date their status has been shown as ‘under examination’.
Similarly, the status of several other cases has been shown as ‘sub-judice’, which means no serious efforts were made by the concerned departments to get the interim orders of the courts either vacated or modified so as to pave the way for completion of investigation and initiation of action under law against erring officers and officials.
In respect of an official of the Public Health Engineering Department in Chadoora Division a complaint regarding tampering of Date Of Birth was forwarded by Assistant Inspector General (Policy) of Vigilance Organization Srinagar vide Letter No.VO-PHE-NG-12/2015-11867 dated August 10, 2015. But despite lapse of two and half years the status of the case has been shown as ‘under examination’ by the Crime Branch.
Similarly, an official of J&K Employees Provident Fund Organization was found involved in tampering of his Date Of Birth in the year 2010 and accordingly FIR No.30/2010 was registered against the official by the Crime Branch Srinagar. However, the status of the case has been shown as ‘sub-judice”, which means investigation has not reached the logical conclusion despite lapse of over seven years.
A Physical Education Teacher of Department of Youth Services and Sports was booked by the Crime Branch in the year 2015 for tampering his Date Of Birth in order to prolong his stay in the Government service. But challan could not be produced in the court of law till date as the case was stayed by the court. The status of this case has also been shown as ‘sub-judice’.
An Assistant Director rank officer of Industries and Commerce Department was also found involved in tampering of Date Of Birth and in this regard FIR was registered by the Crime Branch more than one year back. But the same could not be taken to the logical conclusion till date as the officer obtained some interim orders from the High Court.
However, no efforts were made by the Industries and Commerce Department to get the court orders modified despite admitting that there was mismatch in the Date Of Birth mentioned in the educational qualification certificate produced by the officer and the one mentioned in the personal information filed by the officer for GP Fund subscription.
Several employees of the School Education Department particularly teachers were also found involved in tampering of Date Of Birth but the status of these cases has been shown as ‘under investigation’ despite lapse of considerable period of time.
Similar is the fate of DOB tampering cases involving officers of the Health Department, Social Forestry, State Forest Corporation and Forest Department.
In certain cases, the erring officers and officials were only censured and minor punishment in the shape of fine was imposed by the concerned authorities and they were allowed to continue in the service after making correction in their DOBs as per the valid documents instead of initiating legal action.
“It is the mockery of the system that even after being found involved in tampering of Date Of Birth the officers could not be punished and they are continuing in the Government service”, official sources said and asked what was the fun of registering FIRs by the Crime Branch when the same were not to be taken to the logical conclusion.
The courts had only passed interim orders and it was obligatory on the part of the concerned departments to place facts and figures before the courts so as to pave the way for punishment to the erring officers and officials as per the offence committed by them. “By not initiating steps to get the court orders modified the Government has virtually sided with the erring officers and officials”, sources remarked.
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