*No seriousness shown towards 13 key steps
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 9: Notwith-standing the oft repeated statements about ensuring transparency in the functioning of the Government departments and stemming out the menace of corruption, majority of the measures announced in this regard by none else than the then Chief Minister that too on the floor of the State Legislature have yet not come out of the official files despite lapse of over one year.
In reply to a question of a ruling party MLA, the then Chief Minister in his capacity as Minister Incharge General Administration Department had announced in the Legislative Assembly during Budget Session of 2015 that besides strengthening the existing anti-corruption institutions, the Government as a matter of policy, will adopt various measures to curb the menace of corruption in the departments.
He had specifically mentioned about Revenue, Rural Developments and Police Departments, which according to the people as well as Legislators have attained the notoriety of being ‘most corrupt’ departments in the State.
The Chief Minister had announced a total of 32 steps so as to stem out the corruption from the system and promote transparency and accountability but maximum measures have not been implemented by the respective departments despite the lapse of more than one year.
It was announced that directions would be passed to all the departments for expediting the pending Regular Departmental Actions and enquiries against the delinquent public servants to bring these to the logical conclusion. But, the fate of Regular Department Actions and enquiries in almost all the departments clearly establishes that this much-talked about measure has remained only in the official file, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
What to talk of State Vigilance Commission even the State High Court has repeatedly been expressing concern over soft-paddling on the part of concerned authorities in bringing such enquiries to the logical conclusion.
The Chief Minister had further announced that Government would devise a scheme for keeping continuous vigil on the integrity of the doubtful/corrupt officers and officials to take action against them. “The fate of this announcement can be gauged from the fact that even tainted officers are enjoying the key positions in the administration instead of being shown the doors by declaring dead-wood”, sources regretted.
In order to ensure timely investigations, the House was informed that verifications into corruption complaints shall be completed within two months, joint surprise checks within 3 months and investigation in FIR cases shall be completed within one year. “However, the inordinate delay in all these aspects is the testimony to non-implementation of the measure announced by the then Chief Minister”, sources said.
While elaborating the measures, the thrust was laid on ensuring fixed tenure for all officers and officials particularly in Police, Rural Development and Revenue Departments but the frequent transfers are indication of non-implementation of not only the announcement but also the Transfer Policy and norms of the Government, sources further said.
As far as announcement regarding creation of cells to ensure timely disposal of cases/files at various levels in the organizational hierarchy of the departments, sources said, “only few departments have shown adherence in this regard while as many departments have yet not established cells”, adding “similarly, there is no compliance to the announcement regarding placement of an institution of Ombudsman both for Panchayats and MGNREGA at district level”.
What to talk of other measures, even a committee, which is supposed to initiate the process for selection and appointment of Ombudsman, has yet not been constituted and the file is lying in the General Administration Department, sources informed.
About administrative inspections in order to pin point the irregularities for improving the work culture, sources said, “while some departments are laying focus on this aspect, there is leniency on the part of others thereby defeating the objective of the measure announced on the floor of the Legislative Assembly”, adding “similar is the fate of regular inspection of works being executed under different Centrally sponsored schemes otherwise J&K would have not been facing query after query from the Union Ministries on implementation of schemes and programmes”.
It was also announced that Government would ensure updating of the websites of the departments on regular basis and the proactive disclosure of information under Right To Information Act would be speeded up but the facts remains contrary even after the lapse of over one year. “There are numerous departments which are not updating their websites while as there are many which have yet not started voluntary disclosure of information under RTI Act”, sources said.
Similar is the fate of announcement vis-à-vis bringing more services under the ambit of J&K Public Services Guarantee Act in the departments and generating awareness among the people about PSGA and RTI Act. “The serious concern expressed by the present Chief Minister over poor implementation of PSGA is a testimony to the fact that announcement made on the floor of the House last year has yet not been taken seriously by many departments”, sources said.
“The present Chief Minister has a daunting task to make sure that the announcements made by the then Chief Minister in order to curb corruption and promote transparency and accountability are implemented strictly otherwise people would not heave a sigh of relief from the deep rooted menace”, sources stressed.
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