Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 6: State Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah this evening, ordered transfers and postings of seven senior IAS officers and approved re-fixing of fare for public transport.
Dr Arun Kumar, who was awaiting orders of adjustment on his repatriation from Central deputation, has been posted as Financial Commissioner, Revenue.
B R Sharma, Principal Secretary, Home Department has been transferred and posted as Principal Secretary, Planning and Development Department relieving B B Vyas of additional charge.
K B Agarwal, Financial Commissioner (Revenue) has been transferred and posted as Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department. He will continue to hold charge of Chairman, Special Tribunal.
Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department has been transferred and posted as Principal Secretary Home Department. Arun Kumar Mehta, on his repatriation to the State Government, has been posted as Commissioner Secretary, Power Development Department. He will relieve B R Sharma of the additional charge of the post.
Jeet Lal Gupta, Commissioner Secretary Social Welfare Department has been transferred and posted as Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department. Gazanfar Hussain, Secretary, Higher Education Department has been transferred and posted as Secretary Social Welfare Department.
The Cabinet also approved re-fixing of maximum chargeable fares in case of stage and contract carriers.
As per the decision, 14.40% hike has been approved in existing fares of big buses (stage carriage), 13.49% hike in mini-buses (stage carriage), 12.13% hike in taxi and maxi cabs (contract carriers) and 8.81% hike in petrol driven auto rickshaws (contract carriage).
The Cabinet has directed the State Transport Authority to issue detailed notification specifying revised route-wise fares.
The Cabinet also approved the appointment of Prof Mushtaq Ahmad Peer as Consultant regarding IT applications and computerization to fast tract appointments. He would be conducting tests for recruitment to non-gazetted and class IV posts to speed up the recruitment process.
Meanwhile, Cabinet decided to dispense with cheque system of payments in Departments like Public Works, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Power Development and Forest and switching over to civil accounting system. The new accounting pattern would come in force from April 1, 2013.
According to the sources, the Cabinet deferred the memo of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department seeking administrative approval for the construction of balance portion of main Ravi Canal upstream of Ravi river from Basantpur right up to inflow of reservoir of Ranjit Sagar dam, the fate of which is hanging in balance because of ‘hurdles’ being created by the Finance Department.
“The memo was deferred as Minister for Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather was not present in the meeting”, sources said while disclosing that Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, who is annoyed over the Finance Ministry’s response to the important project, was assured that the matter would be thoroughly discussed in the next Cabinet meeting.