Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Feb 3: Four Commissions of the State which hold key to good governance are defunct for last five months or so due to the failure of the previous Government to appoint their chairpersons and members well in time.
According to official sources, four commissions in the State which are Constitutional bodies have become totally defunct as three out of them are not only headless but have also no members on their roll while one is without chairman since July last year that has led to the sufferings of the people in the State.
Sources said, State Public Service Commission (PSC) has become totally defunct since November 16 after the retirement of its last member, K B Jandiyal. The Chairman of the Commission, S L Bhat had retired on September 10 last year and since then no steps were taken by the then Government for the appointment of new Chairman and its other members to make it properly functional, sources added.
Sources said that at the fag end of its term the previous Government had submitted a panel to the Governor for the post of PSC chairman and members which he turned down. However, after the political impasse on the Government formation for over last one month in the State no efforts have been made for the reconstitution of the PSC till date with the result people are suffering to a great extent, which kills the entire spirit of good governance.
Failure to appoint the chairman of PSC has also put the career of 99 newly selected KAS officers at stake as their file is pending in the Commission since July last year, sources said. The same was to be submitted to General Administrative Department (GAD) for formal clearance by the PSC chairman. As the post is vacant since September last year, these KAS officers are running from pillar to post for justice but no one at the helm of affairs pays heed to them, sources added.
These youth are in great distress as they had completed all formalities and were waiting for their appointment orders, sources said, adding some of them have even left their jobs in private sector and are now totally idle.
It may be recalled that Public Service Commission comprises of eight members and one Chairman and all posts are lying vacant at present.
Likewise the Human Rights Commission which comprised of five members including one chairman and four members is also defunct since May last year after the retirement of its Chairman, Justice Bashir -ud -Din and other four members, sources said.
Failure of the Government to re-constitute this important Commission for last nine months has become a cause of concern for the people of the State, sources added.
Same has been the fate of the two member State Accountability Commission, which is defunct since August last year, after the retirement of its Chairman Justice Y P Nargotra, sources said. Since then the Government has failed to reconstitute the Commission which was constituted under the State Constitution to ensure the good governance to its subjects.
The Backward Classes Commission is also headless since July last year after the retirement of its chairman Justice A M Mir, sources said. The delay by the Government to appoint the new chairman to this important Commission for over six months now has deprived a large number of villages in remote and far-flung areas of the State who had applied for grant of backward status to their areas to seek justice, sources added.
Sources said that their files are pending as they can’t be disposed of by the Commission neither the Government is in a position to forward them to the Commission which is a headless body now.
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