Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 9: Division Bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Tashi Rabstan today directed the Government to immediately set into motion the process for appointment of new Chairperson and Member of the Jammu and Kashmir State Accountability Commission.
“Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi has expressed the apprehension that the Accountability Commission would become a defunct body if the steps for appointment of new Chairman and Member are not taken by constituting a search committee”, the DB said.
“There is no information, which would show that any step has been taken for filling up two positions by constituting a search committee”, the DB observed, adding “we direct that immediate steps be taken in this regard and a detailed action taken report be filed by the Departments of Home, Law and General Administration before the next date of hearing”.
“If the steps are not taken to fill up the positions then we will be constrained to consider the continuation of the present incumbents till new incumbents are finalized”, the DB made it clear.
It is pertinent to mention here that EXCELSIOR in today’s edition has exclusively carried a news-item that Government has not set into motion any process for the appointment of new Chairperson and Member of SAC despite the fact that term of present incumbents is going to expire next month.
Meanwhile, Division Bench directed the concerned authorities to take action on the show cause notices issued to Principals of two Government Degree Colleges—Prof N K Resutra and Prof Hemla Aggarwal.
“In the case of Prof Resutra, an enquiry has been conducted and the report stands submitted on August 20, 2011. Thereafter, a show cause notice was served on September 9, 2011 and after the reply to the show cause notice the matter was referred to the Commission of Enquiries”, the DB said after hearing counsel for the CMA Advocate S S Ahmed.
“We fail to understand the procedure adopted for referring the matter to the Commission of Enquiries because after the enquiry has been completed, a show cause notice issued and the reply is filed then the appointing authority is required to go into the issues raised in the reply and pass appropriate order”, the DB said.
Likewise, in the case of Dr Hemla Aggarwal, an enquiry report was submitted on February 4, 2010, which was sent to her on November 9, 2010. She submitted her reply on May 9, 2012 and thereafter she was issued a show cause notice on December 2, 2012. The show cause notice was replied on December 9, 2012.
“In both the cases, there is unnecessary delay, which appears to be deliberate act”, the DB said, adding “Is there a hidden hand, who wishes to shield these officers or there are justifiable reasons for delay of 2/3 years in finalizing reply to show cause notice”.
“In any case, we direct that the action be taken on the show cause notice issued to both the officers and the status report be filed before the next date of hearing—August 11, 2014”, the DB said.
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