Two years and half have gone by and the post of Commissioner of Inquiry remains vacant. The mandate of the Commissioner of Inquiry, as set forth in the Act, is that he would examine the report submitted by the departmental inquiry committee against an indicted officer or official who has been accused of dereliction of duty and other acts of misconduct. Sufficient authority is vested in the post. The post was created keeping in mind that departmental inquiry into the conduct of an officer or an official of a particular department could not be really unbiased. This is so because the departmental superiors could be nursing a grudge against the employee or could be very favourably disposed towards him. In either case the law is violated or at least distorted. In order to plug this serious discrepancy, it as designed that once a case of indiscipline and misconduct has been reported, preliminary inquiry would be conducted by the department. Then the report would go to the Commission of Inquiry whose verdict would be conveyed to the department along with recommendations. These recommendations come back to the department for implementation. On the face of it, this all seems compatible with the procedures and rules and nothing can be done or said against the rule. But the real point which we seek to highlight and also bring to the notice of the general public is that why even after the lapse of two years and more the post of Commissioner of Inquiry has remained unfilled? Are we having paucity of qualified people with status that forces the Government to let the crucial post remain vacant? Don’t we have capable officers in administration and judicial departments who could be enlisted in a panel and then submitted to final authority for selection?
Keeping this crucial post vacant has created an impression among Government employees that the Government is not really serious in uprooting corruption and misconduct among its employees. How sad that such an unbecoming and highly damaging impression should be accepted by serious and dedicated Government employees. Thus the old practice of departmental officers conducting departmental inquiry continues along with its drawbacks and inconsistencies. Allegations of misconduct of State Government officers are governed by the Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees (Conduct) Rules, 1971 and in respect of IAS/IPS cadres under and under All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968. The point is that this type of mindset is refusing to understand the spirit of the times we are living in. The days of secrecy and hush hush administrative culture are long past. People are exceedingly getting informed of their rights and privileges and there is a strong social movement in the country that aims at putting an end to VIP culture in the administration. Anti-corruption mechanism has to be provided with teeth to bite and cut. It is not enough to enact the law and then leave it to sulk in files. The law has to be implemented. It is the delivery that matters. The Government should not waste a single day in initiating the process of appointing the Commissioner of Inquiry and making the office functional.
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