* Mehbooba puts dissenting note against Khoda
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 29: Government today formally wrote to the Raj Bhawan recommending the name of Director General of Police (DGP), Kuldeep Khoda for the post of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and former Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department, Mohd Sayeed Khan and former Financial Commissioner Revenue, R K Jerath for the posts of Vigilance Commissioners (VCs). However, leader of Opposition and president of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti, who also happens to be the member of the Selection Committee, put a dissenting note on the official communication.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that on the basis of majority decision in the meeting of Selection Committee held last evening, the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department prepared an official communiqué for submission to the Governor, N N Vohra, who is the final authority to approve the names for the posts of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioners.
The communiqué was then sent to Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Sagar, who are the members of the committee which has the mandate to recommend the names to the Governor for the posts of CVC and VCs.
After the signature of these three members of the committee, the official letter was then sent to leader of the Opposition, Mehbooba Mufti for her signature. However, Ms Mufti, who had walked out of the Selection Committee meeting last evening after the Government didn’t budge from his stand on the name of Kuldeep Khoda for CVC post, put a dissenting note on the communiqué.
“Being of the view that appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) is extremely crucial in the fight against corruption, the exercise has, therefore, should be more than mere filling up of vacancies as post retirement rehabilitation”, the dissenting note of Mehbooba Mufti reads.
“Appointing Mr Khoda as Chief Vigilance Commissioner especially when there are several allegations of serious nature against him would send a wrong signal”, the dissenting note further reads, adds “there are allegations of Mr Khoda’s involvement in the triple murder case of Doda, which has been investigated by SP Crime in 1997-98, allegations of covering up of National Conference worker Haji Yousaf’s death in police custody, allegations of covering up Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam and killing of 200 innocent youth between 2008 to 2010 during his tenure as Director General of Police”.
“The appointment of Mr Khoda as CVC would send a wrong signal to bureaucracy that they can get away with their wrong doings and rewarded for that. So, I don’t agree”, the note concludes.
It may be recalled that Ms Mufti, while addressing media-persons after walking out of the Selection Committee meeting last evening had stated that her party had offered support to the Chief Minister to expand the ambit of selection chairman beyond bureaucracy so that people of high integrity from Civil Society can be brought in as was desired by the Supreme Court.
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