Lists furnished by Jammu Central Cooperative Bank gathering dust
Non clearance of loan clear-cut violation of Conduct Rules
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 9: Despite being aware of the poor financial health of Jammu Central Cooperative Bank Limited, the General Administration Department (GAD) has failed to initiate action against nearly 400 Government employees, who fall in the category of wilful defaulters of the bank. This is notwithstanding the fact that non-clearance of the dues amounts to violation of the Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conduct Rules.
From time to time, a total of 366 employees of 36 Government departments obtained different kinds of loan from Jammu Central Cooperative Bank Limited in order to meet their requirements.
Initially, they were regular in paying the instalments but with the passage of time they stopped making payments forcing the management of the bank to issue notices to them for clearing their loan. However, despite receiving notices these employees preferred not to repay principal amount as well as interest. Finally, all these 366 Government employees were declared as wilful defaulters by the management of the bank.
As non-clearance of dues worth Rs 8.36 crore was a worrisome situation for the ‘ailing’ bank, the Board of Directors in a meeting chaired by the then Principal Secretary to Government, Finance Department Navin Choudhary, who was also Chairman of the Board, directed the management of the bank to submit lists of these wilful defaulter Government employees to the General Administration Department for appropriate action.
“Though one and half month has lapsed since the submission of department-wise lists of the defaulter Government employees yet General Administration Department has failed to initiate action”, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “it seems that the lists were prepared only to be dumped in the official files”.
When contacted, Member Secretary of the Board and General Manager (Admin) of the Jammu Central Cooperative Bank Mohammad Mushtaq confirmed that no official communication vis-a-vis action recommended or initiated against the defaulter Government employees has been received from the General Administration Department till date.
“We are hopeful of early action on the part of the General Administration Department as an amount of Rs 8.36 crore is long over-due”, he further said.
The dilly-dallying approach on the part of General Administration Department is notwithstanding that fact non-clearance of the dues is clear-cut violation of Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conduct Rules.
Rule 3 of the J&K Government Employees Conduct Rules states: “Every Government employee shall at all time maintain absolute integrity; maintain devotion to duty and do nothing which is unbecoming of a Government employee”.
“In case where a Government servant is reported to have acted in a manner unbecoming of a Government servant departmental action can be initiated against him on that score without invoking any of the Conduct Rules. Moreover, Rule 30 of the J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956 specifies the nature of penalties that may be imposed on such a Government servant”, Rule 3 further states.
The act on the part of 366 Government employees also attracts the Rule 11 of the Conduct Rules, which deals with insolvency and habitual indebtedness. “A Government employee shall maintain his private affairs in such a manner so as to avoid habitual indebtedness or insolvency”, Rule 11 states.
As per the data of defaulter Government employees, which has been assessed by EXCELSIOR, employees of Education, Health and Medical Education, Police and Forest Departments are on the top of the lists.
A total of 99 employees of the Education Department have failed to pay Rs 2,55,63,925 to the bank while as 39 employees of Health and Medical Education Department have not cleared their dues worth Rs 1,19,91,017 so far. Similarly, 29 employees of Forest, Environment and Ecology Department have failed to repay Rs 70,96,970 loan and interest to the bank.
Likewise, 29 employees of Police Department have not cleared their dues worth Rs 60,33,737 despite being served notices a number of times by the management of the bank. A total of 18 employees of Revenue Department are on the list of defaulters for their failure to clear dues worth Rs 34,38,065 while as 14 employees posted in the offices of Block Development Officers owe Rs 26,57,583 to the bank.
The employees of Public Health Engineering Department have failed to clear Rs 25,47,338 worth loan and interest while as 11 employees each of Insurance Companies and Municipal Bodies are on the list of defaulters for their failure to clear dues worth Rs 26,32,152 and Rs 15,36,299 respectively.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
