BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Around this time last year, precisely on 23rd July 2015, the PDP-BJP Government, Part-I had, with much fanfare, dispensed with services of 63 civil servants as ‘part of the process to remove deadwood from the administration’. An official spokesperson had flaunted that “by this action the government has just reiterated the essentially of the existing clause of J&K Civil Services Rules (JKCSR), as per which the performance of an officer/official is assessed after he/she completes 48 years of age or 22 years of service”.
However, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir did not agree with the assessment of the government, at least in respect of two public servants, who were reinstated, one after another, within a year of the bravado of the PDP-BJP combination.
The reinstatement of Dr Riyaz Ahmed Dar, the then General Manager, J&K Medical Supplies Corporation and Satish Khajuria, the then Chief Khilafwarzi Officer, Jammu Municipal Corporation, a year after the action, raises questions over government’s decision to remove 63 public servants thus exposing them to mental trauma and social stigma. The two officials might have got back their jobs but what about their tarnished reputation in the society, which must have manifested in the stigmatisation of their family members. Who will repair the damage caused to their societal position for around 365 days?
Apart from the personal humiliation and suffocation of the sacked public servants, the public exchequer will also have to brave the brunt of some overzealous and adventurist bureaucrats and political executives, who found just 63 tainted officials and took action against them, many of whom had no allegation against them during their service career except not to have danced on the tunes of politicians. After taking them back into the service, they will have to be paid the salaries of the period for which they did not work at all. Even if a penny, it is hard earned money of the tax-payer which will have to be parted with because of the whims and foolish assessment of the so-called three-member panel that sat to decide about the corrupt and inefficient. By taking such action, which would have normally been appreciated by the people had it been taken on merits, the PDP-BJP combination sought to give an impression as if the administration has been freed from the deadwood. The fact remains that crocodiles were brought out of the water and big fish allowed roaming around freely. The insensitivity of the government, for that matter the successive governments, is discernible by the harsh reality of most corrupt bureaucrats and political entities manning sensitive assignments, some of them with bail orders from custodial interrogation in their pockets. In a system, run by mostly corrupt elements, action against unscrupulous elements is like kettle calling pot black.
What can be more ironical than the fact that the officers, who processed the cases of these, so-called deadwood, in the General Administration Department, were honoured by awards for being meritorious and honest? As per sources many officers were indicted in this list on the directions of politicians due to personal vendetta. How can these officers, who assessed the deadwood, now question the wisdom of judiciary which saw nothing wrong against the two removed public servants.
The list of reinstatements is likely to grow with removed public servants finding ray of hope of justice coming from the judicial dispensation. In such a situation, will the PDP-BJP Part-II recall back the awards granted to those who sat on the judgement of deciding that these officer were deadwood?
The State Government appears to have gone wayward. Despite State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) and Crime Branch (CB) having registered FIRs against 304 officers and officials of different departments in corruption cases for the past around one decade till 2014, majority remain under investigation even after eight years. Many employees facing serious charges have retired since. Some of them have even passed away but the government seems clueless how to proceed on.
Because of political interference and administrative nexus, sanctions for prosecutions are generally withheld and ‘go slow’ remains the mantra of successive political dispensations to milk from those involved in corruption cases and to while away their time.
The year, when 63 officials were removed as deadwood, witnessed registration of record 85 cases against corrupt, thus bringing home the point that dismissals had no impact on corrupt practices.
This is simply because the unscrupulous elements view action like removing 63 officials as political melodrama rather than a sincere effort to weed out corruption from public life.
Corruption-free administration or society shall remain a distant dream as long as dubious, insincere and dishonest persons rule the roost.