Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Oct 21: Governor N N Vohra has given his consent for appointment of former DGP Prisons, P L Gupta to the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR, “after the State Government gave satisfactory reply to the issues raised by Raj Bhavan last month, regarding these appointments, the Governor cleared the name of P L Gupta and also gave his consent for appointment of Gazzanfar Hussain as Vigilance Commissioner (VC)”.
Sources privy to the developments said that an SRO pertaining to the appointment of the new Chief Vigilance Commissioner and one Vigilance Commissioner is likely to be issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) next week. “Since there is no clarity on the third name in the panel, the State Government is likely to go ahead with the formal notification next week to make the constitution body functional”, sources remarked.
Asked about the status of file pertaining to former DIG — Ashok Kumar Atri, whose name had been recommended for the post of State Information Commission (SIC), sources said, “the State Government is yet to submit the necessary details to Raj Bhavan. Though the communication from the Governor had been forward to the Home Department nearly a month back but they are yet to submit a detailed reply”.
Earlier, on October 12 this year, Governor N N Vohra, in exercise of the powers vested in him under Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009 had appointed former Commissioner Revenue Department, Mohammad Ashraf Mir as State Information Commissioner.
Pertinent to mention that, in September this year Governor, N N Vohra had returned the proposals of the Chief Minister – led Selection Panel for appointment of members to two important statutory bodies – the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) and State Information Commission (SIC) and raised serious questions over the entire selections process.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR, “Raj Bhavan had expressed its displeasure over the manner in which both the proposals were being pushed by the State Government, without doing proper ground-work and in both the proposals, persons who failed to comply with the provisions of the SVC and SIC rules had been recommended”.
The selection panel was headed by Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and comprised former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, who is leader of largest opposition party in the State.
Sources said, “the panel had recommended the name of P L Gupta for the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), but there were issues pertaining to his tenure and eligibility”.
While referring to the recommendations made for appointment of two Information Commissioners, sources said, “there were allegations of land grabbing against Ashok Kumar Atri, who had attained superannuation as Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch Range in 2015”. They added that “Raj Bhavan was also annoyed over the fact that even the CID Department hadn’t shared vital information about the candidates and matter came to fore only after several complaints pertaining to these recommendations reached the Governor”.
Elaborating further, sources said, “documents in possession of Raj Bhavan indicated that the police officer had encroached nearly 24 kanals of State land during his service tenure and even some land near his residence in Channi Himmat colony. Revenue records also indicated that mutations pertaining to some of the land in his possession had also been fudged and this had been established during an inquiry”.
Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance Commission had become defunct in March this year after the then only VC, Gous-un-Nissa Jeelani attained retirement after the superannuation of former CVC, Kuldeep Khoda and one of the Vigilance Commissioner, RK Jerath on February 21 this year. As per service manual for these appointments, the CVC and VCs shall hold the office for a term of four years from the date of their joining or till they reach the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
The appointments are made by the Governor on recommendations of a high-powered Committee headed by Chief Minister, leader of the largest opposition party in the Assembly, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and a senior Cabinet to be nominated by the Chief Minister.
The J&K State Information Commission had been non-functional since November, 2016 when the lone Information Commiss-ioner Nazir Ahmed completed his term.
Out of two Information Commissioners and one CIC, S K Sharma completed his term as Information Commissioner on October 31, 2015 and Chief Information Commissioner G R Sufi on February 29, 2016.
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