Estates Department

Ever since the Assembly sat in session, various House Committees have exposed the  inefficiency some of the vital departments of the Government.
Right now under focus is the Department of Estates, one that never could earn a name without blemish. The Estimates Committee has come out with its sordid findings about this department which, to put it rightly, has been made a fief and jagir by a handful of blue-eyed functionaries. There is hardly an aspect that has not come under the scanner of the Committee and that has not exposed the seamy side of the department.  170 commercial sites in Jammu and 200 of them in Srinagar, all at prime locations in the twin capitals of the State and worth billions of rupees, remain under illegal occupation of favourites who are extracting huge commercial benefits from these at a nominal rent. And who are the beneficiaries of this frugality has remained a mystery till now and even the Estimates Committee has not been able to find out their names and whereabouts. On what basis have these properties been allotted, with what conditionalities, for how much time and what are the terms of allotment, all remain unknown to the public. It is so because the allottees are politically influential, monetarily powerful and socially popular. This in fact is a deadly combine and too strong to be dismantled. Will the Committee’s recommendation of restoration of these properties to normal rules of allotment ever come true, is a multi-dollar question.
When things are to be done clandestinely, people find the ways and means, particularly when they know that there is no accountability. Thus the politically influential allottee have roped in a posse of functionaries, colluded with them, formed the nexus and embarked on massive losses of public exchequer.  Incidentally, in reply to another question in the Upper House, the Government has admitted  it has spent 56.89 crore on beautification of the bungalows of Ministers.  These being the condition will the Estates Department make a move in a right direction seems only a wishful thinking. How come that renovation and repairs of structures on emergency basis are ignored while those already in trim are taken up for lavish embellishment and decoration suiting the spurious instincts of the occupant? The Committee has, to its great surprise, come across instances of fraudulent billing by the officials in collusion with the contractors. Huge sums are drawn against these fraudulent bills and thus general loot is perpetuated of the public exchequer. Another area which the Estimates Committee has highlighted in the report is the rental of these structures. Are the rentals commensurate with the market rate? Not at all, and surprisingly, there has never been an effort to reform the laws governing the rental part. Who is to incur the loss? Obviously, the loser is the ordinary tax payer. No law gives a Government functionary, big or small, the authority to cause loss to the public exchequer and those who have been indulging in this practice for many years in the past should be brought to book with no compassion whatsoever. If rentals have been reformed and hiked in the case of legislators and Government employees, why has not it been applied in case of     occupants of the property of Estates Department? This deviation seems inexplicable.
The report of the Committee repeatedly speaks of violation of the norms of allotment and side tracking of the criterion for allotment. The status and designation of the allottee in the case of allotment of prestigious accommodation has not been adhered to. In terms of the Constitution of the State, an MLA from the state is to be treated at par with an MP in status. As such the MLA shall enjoy the right to super class accommodation while the Estates Department make allotment of available structures. But this has never been strictly adhered to and in stead prestigious accommodation has been allotted to civil and police officials.
The report has come down heavily on the Estates Department in the matter of hiring of private hotel accommodation for Government employees. The hoteliers having formed nexus with functionaries of the Estates Department are reported to be allotting the accommodation to tourists when there is no occupancy and in this way they have been double charging for one accommodation. The Estates Department has not cared for physical verification of the hotel accommodation or may be it has intentionally avoided doing so being privy to the clandestine methods of the hoteliers. Not only that, the Committee has also passed strictures on the bills charged for catering services to the Government occupants of their hotels.
The panel has made a slew of recommendations aimed at rationalization in the department of all its branches. It has emphasized on observance of rules and norms of allotment of accommodation. But after going through the report minutely, one comes to the conclusion that the Estates Department needs big shaking and complete overhauling because a lot of rot has collected in it and may not be wiped off without total overhaul of the Department.

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