Editorial: No nepotism please
Srinagar: The present government has been once again made to stand against allegations of nepotism as various appointments have surfaced in the Ministry of social welfare. The appointments have been made in brazen violations as no selection process was either followed nor was the qualifications of these blue eyed boys taken into account.
Even though the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has many years back pronounced its judgment against appointments to state services without adhering to the prescribed recruitment rules and procedures, the government is honouring the judgment more in abuse.
The cases of adjusting the near and dear ones of politicians and other powerful class in various capacities and against various posts in the government is not a new phenomenon in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Over the years, hundreds of appointments have been made in various government departments and institutions without going through the appropriate selection process.
Worse, the qualifications required to get these posts filled were also overlooked. The autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and public sector undertakings too have been skipping the well established norms and procedures while making such recruitments.
The case of Nauman Thakur, whose appointment as deputy superintendent of police made headlines more than a decade back, was quashed by the court because it had not been made through the prescribed selection process.
But the recent appointments made by the Minister of Social Welfare by adjusting his coterie has put a question mark on the functioning of the entire coalition government. The appointments are not getting any attention from the government and even the Chief Minister has not even bothered to initiate an enquiry.
The lateral entry of people in government service is a highly questionable issue, one that can create ripples in the state given the number of unemployed youth here. Therefore the issue needs immediate attention and needs to be sorted out.
Working in NGO’s and then eyeing top administrative positions is a phenomenon that needs to be put to an end. Otherwise the whole affair will be seen as political arrogance of the incumbent ministers.
Besides, the move will set a new example of nepotism and corruption in the State and where everyone is talking about governance deficit the move will ignite more young minds to go against the government.
The move if not curbed and action taken against these illegal appointments will justify the critiques of the government who say that the present dispensation has become so habitual of setting bad precedence of enforcing unlawful decisions that it has unauthorized ordered the placement of backdoor appointees on cadre positions in the middle and upper rungs of the state bureaucracy.
The past precedence was that even for the appointment of a consultant for any centrally sponsored project the government would advertise the post, set up a selection panel and devise a selection procedure for the appointment but the incumbent minister have not shown any respect to the institutional procedures by adjusting their blue eyed boys on plum positions in centrally sponsored projects and government departments without following the given recruitment procedures. This needs to end.
KV Correspondent
