Appointment of Khoda as first CVC
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 20: In a major setback to the Government on the appointments of first ever Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and two Vigilance Commissioners (VCs), Governor N N Vohra has returned the file sent by the Government for appointment of former Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda as the CVC and Mohammad Sayeed Khan and RK Jerath, two retired IAS officers as VCs.
Authoritative sources told the Excelsior that the Raj Bhawan had returned the file on June 15 with a pose of questions pertaining to the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC.
In the four members panel for appointment of the CVC and VCs, Leader of Opposition and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had strongly objected to appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC. However, there had been no objections by her to the appointment of Mr Khan and Mr Jerath as the VCs.
Sources said the Governor has sought a number of clarifications from the State Government pertaining to the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC. Mr Khoda had retired as the DGP of the State on May 31 while a meeting to choose first ever CVC and two VCs of the State was held on May 28, just three days before his retirement after nearly five years posting as the State police chief.
According to sources, the major clarifications sought by the Governor on the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC included his role in Bhaderwah triple murder case of 1998 during his tenure as DIG Udhampur-Doda range. Though the State High Court had given relief to Mr Khoda on June 5 just a couple of days after his appointment to the coveted post was recommended by the four members committee by dismissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
A Crime Branch inquiry had raised several questions over the triple murder.
Sources said the Raj Bhawan has also reportedly sought the status of some more points raised by Mehbooba Mufti on the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC.
The Raj Bhawan has sent a detailed questionnaire-cum-clarification note to the Government on June 15 over the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC.
Sources confirmed that the Chief Minister’s Secretariat has received the questionnaire and was consulting legal and other experts to take a decision on the note sent by the Governor House.
A four member high-powered committee had taken up the issues of appointments of the CVC and VCs on May 28. Leader of Opposition Mehbooba Mufti had left the meeting strongly opposing the name of Mr Khoda as the CVC. She had proposed the name of former Vigilance Commissioner and retired IPS officer Dr Ashok Bhan if the Government wanted to appoint a state subject as the CVC and Samuel Verghese, an IAS officer of J&K cadre, who had retired as Home Secretary of the State, if the Government wanted a non state subject for the post.
However, three other members in the panel—Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar had gone by the panel of Mr Khoda as CVC and Mohammad Sayeed Khan, who had retired as Commissioner/Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD) and R K Jerath, who had retired as Financial Commissioner (Revenue) as VCs.
The Government had on June 4 sent the proposal for appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC and Mr Khan and Mr Jerath as VCs to the Raj Bhawan along with the dissent note of Mehbooba Mufti, who had opposed the appointment of Mr Khoda on various grounds including Bhaderwah triple murder case, cover up on the killing of Haji Mohammad Yusuf, a National Conference worker, who had died in Crime Branch custody after coming out of the Chief Minister’s residence, Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) scam in which JKCA president and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr Farooq Abdullah was allegedly involved and killing of 200 youth from 2008 to 2010 during the tenure of Mr Khoda.
Sources said the Chief Minister’s Secretariat was going into details of the questionnaire-cum-clarifications sought by the Raj Bhawan on the appointment of first ever CVC and would take a decision on them very soon.
The Government would shortly take a decision on whether to reply to the queries raised by the Governor on the appointment of Mr Khoda as the first ever CVC or keep the file pending and go for fresh panel of the CVC.
“The chances were that the Government could file a reply to the questionnaire as the panel for appointment of the CVC and two VCs has been cleared by the high powered committee including the Chief Minister himself’’, sources said, adding the Government didn’t want PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to score a point.
The Governor had in 2009 returned the file pertaining to the appointments of Justice YP Nargotra and Justice Bashir Ahmad Kirmani as members of the State Accountability Commission (SAC) on the ground that the names hadn’t been sent with a consensus as Leader of Opposition, Mehbooba Mufti was not present in the meeting.
In 2011, the Raj Bhawan had returned another proposal of the Government for issuing an ordinance on the Public Safety Act (PSA), which carried two separate provisions for detention of state subjects and non-state subjects. Later, the Government had taken the Legislature route for the amendments in the PSA.
Sources said the proposal pertaining to appointment of first ever CVC and VCs, which had reached Raj Bhawan on June 4, was studied by the Governor himself for a couple of days especially the dissent note moved along with it by Mehbooba Mufti. After a detailed questionnaire, the Raj Bhawan returned the file to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
The appointment of first CVC and VCs of the State had been hanging fire for past about one and a half year ever since the State Legislature had passed the bill for setting up the institution of the Chief Vigilance Commission in Jammu and Kashmir. On a couple of occasions, the meetings called for constitution of the panel had to be deferred on different pretexts.
In her dissent note, Mehbooba had written: “The appointment of CVC is extremely crucial in the fight against corruption, the exercise, therefore, should be more than mere filling up of vacancies as post retirement rehabilitation.”
She had raised the issues of Khoda’s alleged involvement in triple murder, cover up of National Conference leader Syed Yusuf’s death in alleged police custody, Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam and killing of 200 youth between 2008 to 2010 during his tenure as DGP.
Mehbooba’s dissenting note further said that Khoda’s appointment as CVC will send wrong signal to bureaucracy that they can get away with their “wrong doings’’ and get rewarded for that.
Follow our WhatsApp channel