HoD changed thrice during past one and half year
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 22: The post of Director Tourism Jammu doesn’t fall under the ambit of the Policy on Transfer/Posting of Government employees which was notified in the year 2010 and was reiterated thereafter a number of times even by the present administration.
This has become amply clear from the fact that during the past one and half year Director Tourism Jammu has been changed thrice in blatant violation of the Transfer Policy while as since 2018 the Director Tourism Kashmir has been changed only once thereby clearly establishing that different yardstick is being followed in respect of two Directorates having the same set of functioning and mandate.
Vide Government Order No. 861-GAD of 2010 dated July 28, 2010, Policy on Transfer/Posting of Government employees was notified for strict compliance at all the levels. It was specifically mentioned in the Transfer Policy that the minimum tenure of a Government employee on a post shall be two years and a maximum of three years.
The maximum tenure of posting in respect of important projects which are required to be completed in a time bound manner may be extended up to five years if continuation of any officer is considered necessary, the Policy states. Moreover, in the Policy the calendar for effecting transfers of different categories of employees was fixed so that functioning of the departments doesn’t suffer.
The present administration vide Government Order No.948-JK(GAD) of 2020 dated October 15, 2020 laid stress on ensuring strict adherence to the calendar so that minimum dislocations occur which would ensure better outcomes in the implementation of various Government schemes and policies.
“It has been observed that the practice of ordering transfers throughout the year is adversely impacting the implementation of schemes and policies”, the Government had mentioned in the order.
However, Director Tourism Jammu has been changed thrice since January last year and this has given an impression that this Directorate doesn’t fall under the ambit of the Transfer Policy.
As per the Government record, Deepika Sharma, Executive Director Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society was holding the additional charge of the Director Tourism Jammu in the month of January last year. In the month of March last year, Raj Kumar Katoch, the then Director Horticulture Jammu, was transferred and posted as Director Tourism Jammu relieving Deepika Sharma of the additional charge of the post.
In the month of January this year, Raj Kumar Katoch was shifted from the post and posted as Secretary, J&K Public Service Commission and Naseem Javid Chowdhary, the then Secretary J&K Sports Council, was transferred and posted as new Director Tourism Jammu.
Yesterday, the Government transferred Naseem Javid Chowdhary from the post of Director Tourism and posted him as Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department Jammu and Vivekanand Rai, who was awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department, was posted as Director Tourism Jammu.
“By changing Director Tourism Jammu thrice during the past one and half year the Government has conveyed that Directorate of Tourism Jammu doesn’t fall under the ambit of the Transfer Policy”, official sources remarked.
“On the other side, there is different yardstick as far as Directorate of Tourism Kashmir is concerned”, they further said, adding “Nasir Ahmed Wani was holding the post of Director Tourism Kashmir since 2018 and was changed only this year when Dr G N Itoo was posted at his place as such Director was changed only once in last three years”.
“Any officer requires at least four-five months to completely understand the projects and programmes of the concerned department as such frequent transfers badly impacts the implementation of the same”, sources further said, adding “moreover, tourism is such a sector where delay in execution of projects cannot be afforded especially in the light of the fact that majority of the projects are funded by the Government of India with specific timelines”.
As per the Transfer Policy of 2010, the officers can be shifted prematurely only in case of non-performance or on health grounds. But there was no such ground behind changing of Director Tourism Jammu thrice during past one and half year, sources said, adding “had their performance not been up to the mark these officers would have not received equally important posts”.
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