Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 9: The Raj Bhawan has cleared the decks for setting up of the institution of Chief Vigilance Commission in Jammu and Kashmir and gave nod for appointment of Kuldeep Khoda as first ever Chief Vigilance Commissioner and RK Jerath and M S Khan as Vigilance Commissioners for Jammu and Kashmir divisions respectively.
Governor N N Vohra’s approval to the appointments came a day after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called on him at the Raj Bhawan here and discussed various issues including constitution of the CVC, which had been hanging fire for past over one and a half years after the State Legislature had passed an Act to this effect.
A high level committee had approved the appointment of Mr Khoda, former Director General of Police (DGP) as the CVC and Mr Jerath and Mr Khan, both retired IAS officers as the Vigilance Commissioners in a meeting on May 28 this year. However, Leader of Opposition Mehbooba Mufti, who was one of the members of the selection panel, had objected to the appointment of Mr Khoda and submitted a detailed dissenting note, which the Government had incorporated along with its recommendation to the Governor for making appointments to the CVC.
The Government had forwarded its recommendations to the Governor on June 4 while on the basis of Mehbooba’s dissenting note, the Raj Bhawan had returned the file to the Government on June 15, raising some queries, which the Government had recently replied giving clean chit to Mr Khoda on the objections of the PDP president.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Governor has finally given his nod to the proposal for appointments of Mr Khoda as the first Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) of the State and Mr Jerath and Mr Khan as Vigilance Commissioners (VCs) for Jammu and Kashmir divisions respectively.
Mr Khoda, who had over four years tenure as the DGP of the State was approved for the posting as the CVC and Mr Jerath and Mr Khan as the VCs after more than five months of the proposal being sent by the Government, which had replied the queries and objections raised by the Raj Bhawan on the appointments.
Mr Khoda had retired on May 31 as the state police chief while Mr Jerath, an IAS officer had retired as Financial Commissioner (Revenue) and MS Khan as Commissioner/Secretary General Administration Department (GAD). Mr Khoda was an IPS officer while two others were IAS officers. Mr Jerath was a Direct Recruit of IAS while Mr Khan was KAS officer conferred with IAS.
Sources said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during his meeting with the Governor at Raj Bhawan yesterday also discussed constitution of the CVC among other issues. Omar stressed for early constitution of the CVC and mentioned that queries and objections raised by the Raj Bhawan to one of the appointments have been replied to.
They added that the Governor agreed to the proposal, which was formally approved by the Raj Bhawan today. Sources said the General Administration Department (GAD), had to issue a formal order now constituting the CVC and making appointments against the posts of the CVC and two VCs after receiving the approval from the Raj Bhawan.
The selection panel, which had approved the appointments for the posts of CVC and VCs, comprised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar and Leader of Opposition Mehbooba Mufti (the PDP president). Ms Mufti had objected to the appointment of Mr Khoda and gave a dissenting note, which the Government had incorporated while forwarding the panel to the Governor.
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.
The 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. The State High Court had, however, 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).
The Raj Bhawan had also sought the status of some more points raised by Mehbooba Mufti on the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC.
The Raj Bhawan had sent a detailed questionnaire-cum-clarification note to the Government on June 15 over the appointment of Mr Khoda as the CVC.
Ms Mufti had left the meeting 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 appointment of first CVC and VCs of the State had been hanging fire for past about one and a half years 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.
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