The stand to bring in the requisite transparency in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited at par with other scheduled commercial Banks in the country, especially in respect of RTI and CVC guidelines, is at last vindicated by the recent decision of the Board of Directors of the Bank deciding to bring the Bank under the ambit of the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act 2009 and the Central Vigilance Commission. It is a matter of satisfaction that the much awaited decision has been taken even though following an administrative shake, all in the interests of this Bank and for strengthening the trust and the confidence of the constituents of this Bank. More of checks and balances within the system which were grossly insufficient, are now expected to be in full operation to make the Bank emerge from the created mess into a strong institution. Once, more of probity, transparency and a committed professional working and improved governance made their firm and assured base footing in the Bank, the same was going to bring about encouraging results.
It is not that such basic reforms in the functioning of the Bank were not mooted , at least by the Governor’s administration along with introduction of some other elementary measures like bringing in more transparency in publishing and declaring its annual financial results but opposition from political and other circles resulted in its non implementation and now since series of avoidable irregularities having been noticed which ultimately would have undermined its functioning, the State Government being the share holders and owning 59 per cent shares directed the Bank’s management to implement the RTI and the CVC guidelines. Almost all the commercial banks are having the Finacle 10 version of the Banking solution that has in-built technology to forewarn and alert generation system and it is unbelievable that a Bank having expanded so much across the country, had not adopted this system in its operations which are now expected to follow suit.
In a Banking institution, unwarranted interference in its functioning and compromising with the fundamentals, especially in matters of lending definitely were bound to spell doom. In this connection, it would not be out of context to refer to the June 10 press conference in Srinagar where Governor Satya Pal Malik made the statement that several politicians of the state were involved in corruption of the Bank. He had given sufficient hints about the early implementation of the RTI and the CVC guidelines in the troubled Bank. It may be recalled that the Central Bank of the country , the Reserve Bank of India, had written to the State Government about the governance issue of the Bank. More of administrative reforms, professional dexterity and clinging to the watch , ward and alert approach, which is otherwise at the root of the Banking system, also in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd, it is expected that it shall overcome its current pressures and strains and shall be showing encouraging results on all operational fronts say in deposits, advances, recoveries in NPAs and registering good profits.
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