* 32 Boards/ Corpns to have VCs
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 31: Ongoing row between Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh and Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khandey has taken a new turn with Dr Singh shooting off letter to Administrative Secretaries of his Departments including Power Development and Housing and Urban Development asking them not to allow any officer transferred and posted in the two Departments by the orders of the General Administration Department (GAD) to join the office.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Dr Singh’s OSD Shakti Pathak today wrote letters to Principal Secretary Power, Sandeep Naik and Commissioner/Secretary Housing and Urban Development, Bipul Pathak on behalf of the Deputy Chief Minister asking them not to allow any of the officers recently posted in the Departments by an order of the GAD and approved by the Chief Secretary to join the Departments.
Dr Singh holds charges of Power and Housing and Urban Development Departments.
“The letters have also gone to the Departments, where the officers were previously posted prior to their appointments in Power and Urban Development Departments, that they shouldn’t relieve the officers,’’ sources said.
Sources said the Deputy Chief Minister took the step as the postings had been ordered in the Departments under his control without taking his approval by the Chief Secretary.
A day before, the GAD had ordered transfer and posting of Naresh Kumar, KAS, Secretary, Jammu Municipal Corporation under orders of transfer as Programme Officer, ICDS Kishtwar, as Additional Secretary to Government, Power Development Department. By another order, the GAD had posted Umesh Sharma, Under Secretary to Government, Agriculture Production Department, as Under Secretary to Government, Power Development Department.
Dr Singh will be taking up the issue of transfers, being ordered in violation of guidelines, personally with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
“The BJP stands for ‘coalition dharma’ and will maintain it but simultaneously it can’t be one-sided affair,’’ sources said.
A day before Dr Singh’s OSD on behalf of the Chief Minister had written to the Chief Secretary seeking immediate revocation of the transfer order of Majid Khalil Ahmad Drabu, KAS, Special Secretary to the Government, Health and Medical Education Department, who had been transferred and posted as Special Secretary to Government, Public Works (R&B) Department.
The Deputy Chief Minister wanted revocation of the transfer order on the ground that the Special Secretary can’t be transferred without approval of the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, in a significant decision, the Government has identified 32 Boards/ Commissions / Corporations, which will be headed by political persons or experts in their fields in the next few days, majority of whom will hold the rank of Ministers, either Cabinet or Minister of State. Some of them, however, might not be given the Minister rank but would enjoy almost similar powers and privileges.
“The Government has identified 24 Corporations and eight Boards, where Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons will be posted shortly,’’ official sources told the Excelsior.
Eight Boards identified for posting of Chairpersons/Vice Chairpersons are Gujjar and Bakerwals Welfare Board, Pahari Development Board, Kissan Welfare Board (where Daljit Singh Chib, BJP, has already been appointed as Vice Chairperson), Scheduled Castes Welfare Board, Backward Classes Development Board, Khadi and Village Industries Board (where PDP backed Independent MLA from Zanskar Bakir Rizvi has already been appointed as Vice Chairperson) and Rajya Sainik Welfare Board.
Twenty four Corporations, Commissions and Bank tipped to get new Chairpersons/Vice Chairpersons are Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Power Development Corporation (PDC), Chenab Valley Power Development Corporation, State Accountability Commission (SAC), State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), State Women Commission (SWC), Haj Committee, SC/ST/BCs Development Corporation, JK Agro Industries Limited, Medical Supplies Corporation, JAKFED, Women Development Corporation, HTMC Kashmir, SIDCO, SICOP, JK Cements Limited, JK Industries Limited, JK Mineral Limited, Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC), State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC), State Finance Corporation (SFC), Central Cooperative and Land Development Bank, Handicrafts Development Corporation and Handloom Development Corporation.
“Both political and apolitical persons would be chosen to head the Boards/ Commissions/ Corporations, the panels for some of which have been prepared separately by the ruling coalition partners—PDP and BJP,’’ sources said, adding that some of the legislators (both MLAs and MLCs) were also tipped for the posts, which would have the rank of either Cabinet Minister or Ministers of State.
However, according to sources, some of the heads of the Boards/Corporations might not be given any rank of the Ministers but would have almost similar privileges unofficially. This would be done to stem the opposition criticism of giving Ministers rank to such large number of persons, they said.
Sources said BJP might bag Jammu based Corporations/ Boards and the PDP Kashmir centric bodies. However, both the parties would share the posts almost equally. The BJP has also staked claim over some of Valley based bodies to adjust its leaders like Dr Hina Bhat in the Valley. Similarly, the PDP would adjust some of its Jammu based leaders in the Boards/ Corporations/ Commissions.
The PDP-BJP Coordination Committee has already given its nod for appointments of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons to Boards/ Commissions/ Corporations.
As per Jammu and Kashmir’s Constitution, there can be only 25 Ministers in the State including the Chief Minister. The bar was imposed by an Act of the Legislature during Ghulam Nabi Azad regime in 2006. While Parliament and all State Assemblies can have Ministers up to 15 per cent strength of Lower House i.e. the Lok Sabha or the Legislative Assembly, Jammu and Kashmir, which has the powers to make separate laws can have Ministers up to 20 per cent of total strength of both Lower and Upper Houses (Assembly and Council).
The PDP-BJP coalition Government has exhausted its quota of 25 Ministers.
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