Govt defers promotion of 23 officers for want of Vigilance clearance, APRs

Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, May 23: The promotion of 23 officers of the departmental feeding services to the Time Scale of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service has been deferred for want of vigilance clearance, latest status of the criminal proceedings and Annual Performance Reports. Moreover, findings in case of two other officers were kept in the sealed cover as the departmental enquiry/criminal trial was still pending against them.
Majority of these officers belong to the Rural Development Department followed by the Revenue, Social Welfare and Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Departments.
As per Rule 9 read with Rule 8 of the J&K Administrative Services Rules, 2008, a member of the departmental feeding service is to be appointed by promotion to the Time Scale of the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) on the recommendations of the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee subject to the conditions that he/she has completed four years of service in Junior Scale as on January 1of the year in which promotion is to be made; he/she has passed the departmental examination, if any, prescribed under Rules; the post in the Time Scale of the service is available and the Government is satisfied about his being suitable for promotion to the Time Scale.
Moreover, Sub-Rule 3 of the Rule 11 of the J&K Administrative Service Rules, 2008 provides that the Government shall periodically review the position of appointment to the service by promotion from members of the departmental feeding services to ensure that direct recruits of the departmental services of an earlier batch and those appointed by promotion to these services up to the date of appointment of such direct recruits shall not become junior to the direct recruits appointed to these services in subsequent batch or batches.
According to the official document available with EXCELSIOR, on the recommendations of the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee and with the approval of Cabinet, 83 officers were inducted into the Time Scale of KAS and the grade of Time Scale of KAS was released in favour of four officers during the year 2013 as were available on January 1, 2013.
In anticipation of the formal induction of the officers into the Time Scale of KAS against the slots available as on January 1, 2014, such eligible members as were clear from vigilance angle were placed against the higher post in the Time Scale of KAS vide Government Order No.1228-GAD of 2013 dated August 27, 2013. These officers along with others, who could not be placed against the higher post on account of non-availability of vigilance status in their cases at the relevant point of time were considered for induction into KAS by the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee in its last meeting. The Committee assessed these officers’ performance with reference to their Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and service record.
The consideration in respect of 23 officers was deferred on account of non-availability of complete APRs, pending vigilance clearance/status of the departmental/criminal proceedings, the document said.
The promotion of 11 officers of the Rural Development Department was deferred due to pending vigilance clearance/status of the departmental/criminal proceedings. These officers are Mohd Rafiq Fafoo, Abdul Majid Wani, Mohammad Mushtaq Beigh, Nazir Ahmed Lone, Bashir Ahmad Hajan, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, Gul Hassan Kraipak, Om Parkash, Shabir-ul-Hassan, Abdul Rashid Mir and Ali Mohd Rahi.
Similarly, the promotions of Barkat Ali Lone, Jeevan Lal, Ghulam Rasool Sheikh, Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Basotra, all of Revenue Department have been deferred for want of non-availability of complete APRs and pending vigilance clearance.
The reason for deferring the promotion of CAPD officer Bal Krishan Panotra was non-availability of complete APRs while as the same was not granted in favour of Abdul Qayoom Mir of CAPD due to pending vigilance clearance. GM Hakim (retd) of Industries and Commerce Department was denied promotion due to non-availability of complete APRs.
The promotion of Mohd Afzal Rather, Ashwani Kumar and Manok Kumar of the Social Welfare was deferred due to non-receipt of the induction proposal, non-availability of APRs and pending vigilance clearance respectively while as promotion of Anil John of Tourism was not cleared due to non-receipt of departmental proposal/latest status of the criminal proceedings.
The Establishment Committee also put in the sealed cover its findings dated August 24, 2013 in respect of two officers namely Mohammad Altaf Wani of J&K Employment (G) Service and Ghulam Rasool of J&K Revenue (G) Service as the departmental enquiry/criminal trial was still pending against them.
These developments were shared with the State Cabinet on May 21, 2014 by the Secretary, General Administration Department, Mohammad Ashraf Bukhari while submitting memorandum for appointment of the officers of the departmental feeding services to the Time Scale of the J&K Administrative Service.