Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 27: The Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) on recommendations of Panel for Chairperson and Members of State Accountability Commission (SAC) has recommended names of two retired Chief Justices of High Courts for the post of Chairman and four Retired Judges of Jammu and Kashmir High Court for the two posts of the Members while the Government has confined its choice between two Retired Judges of the State High Court for filling up the post of the Chairman of Backward Classes Commission (BCC).
Official sources told the Excelsior that the three members of CSC has finalized the Panel and will submit it to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who will then convene meeting of Empowered Committee, which was authorized to make the appointments. The Empowered Committee is headed by the Chief Minister and comprised Legislative Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly (Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister being leader of single largest party in the House in the absence of any recognized LoP in the Assembly), Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basharat Bukhari and a Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Chief Minister (most likely Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh).
The Empowered Committee will finalize names of the Chairman and Members of the SAC, which was lying defunct for past quite some time now as its Chairman and both Members have completed their tenure.
Sources said the CSC had recommended names of two retired Chief Justices of the High Courts-Permod Kohli and Bilal Nazki for appointment as Chairperson of the SAC.
Names of four retired Judges of the High Court have been recommended for posting as the Members of the Commission. They included JP Singh, BL Bhat, Bashir Ahmad Kirmani and Sunil Hali.
The Empowered Committee has to appoint one of the two retired Chief Justices recommended by the CSC as Chairman of the SAC and two out of four retired Judges of the State High Court as Members.
Permod Kohli had retired as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court after serving as Judge of Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Punjab & Haryana High Courts while Bilal Nazki had retired as Chief Justice of Orissa High Court after serving as Judge of Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Bombay High Courts. He had also served as Acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court. He was also heading High Powered Committee of the Centre to review functioning of the Haj Committee.
JP Singh, BL Bhat, Bashir Ahmad Kirmani and Sunil Hali, who have been recommended by the CSC for the post of SAC Members had served as Judges of the State High Court.
The Chief Minister now has to call meeting of the Empowered Committee to finalize names of Chairman and two Members of the SAC, which can take place in the next few days. The Government had assigned the task of recommending Panels for Chairman and Members of the SAC to the CSC headed by Minister for Forests and Environment Bali Bhagat (chairman) and comprising Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basharat Bukhari and Rural Development Minister Abdul Haq Khan. Bali belongs to the BJP while Bukhari and Khan are the PDP Ministers in the coalition Government.
The Accountability Commission was set up during first tenure of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the Chief Minister in 2002. However, for most of the time during past about 13 years, the Commission remained either headless or without Members. Presently also, the Commission was without Chairman and Members.
The SAC was authorized to take up complaints and pass orders against the public functionaries including the Ministers and legislators.
Sources said the Government has narrowed down its choice for the post of Chairman of Commission for Backward Classes between two retired Judges of the High Court including JP Singh and Imtiyaz Hussain. This post was also lying vacant.
The Backward classes commission recommends areas for inclusion as backward.
Significantly, name of JP Singh also figured in the Panel for Members of the SAC.
Sources said though the Empowered Committee was authorized to final names, the PDP might push for Bilal Nazki as chairperson of the SAC and Imtiyaz Hussain for the Chairman of Commission for Backward Classes while the BJP was likely to through its weight behind Permod Kohli for the post of the SAC chairman and JP Singh for Chairman of Backward Classes Commission.
“Finally, both the coalition partners were likely to make consensus on sharing one post each of the Chairman of the two Commissions and one Member each in the SAC,” they added.
Sources pointed out that the Government was also expected to take decision soon on the postings in the State Human Rights Commission.
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