Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 27: Expressing concern over the blind folded anomalies which grossly hammered and sabotaged service careers of Enforcement Wing (Food), Food Safety cadre today demanded appointment of an independent officer of IAS cadre as Commissioner, Food & Drug Administration (FDA), J&K.
In a handout issued today, Food Safety cadre said that Drug and Food Control Organization (DFCO) came into existence in the year 1987 with mandate of implanting Food and Drug Acts (central) simultaneously and the opportunity of the control of administration was given to officers of Drug wing without having knowledge of Food laws.
“The officers of Drug wing in their own interest managed to make erroneous and defective recruitment rules for food wing, resulting into total stagnation in the Food Safety cadre and growth of the organization was arrested and kept on permanently freezing till date,” they alleged. They said though Food wing constitute 75 % strength of the DFCO but in promotions 75 % quota was given to Drug wing which constitutes just 25 % of the Organization.
They further said that while hearing a PIL titled “Initiating Suo Moto Action V/s State and others, 36 posts of various categories were created by the Government but those remained unfilled due to anomalies in the recruitment rules for Food wing.
“There is dire need to strengthen/restructure the organization and to open promotional avenues for various ranks of Food wing who are passing through a state of distress due to permanent stagnation,” they asserted, adding present Commissioner of Food & Drug Administration did his best efforts and submitted repeated proposals and draft of recruitment rules for Food wing but that were turned down by the Government due to the reasons best known to them.
The Food Safety cadre demanded that the responsibility of the implementation of Food laws and administrative and budgetary control of the Organization be given to an officer of IAS cadre as per mandate of FSSA to end further discrimination to them.
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