Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 15: In what could be termed as sheer discrimination with the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service officers, large number of non-KAS officers continue to gallop the share of KAS officers in the State Administration by the dint of their influence. Shockingly, the General Administration Department, which is the custodian of cadre officers, is watching the situation as mute spectator for obvious reasons.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) Rules, 2008 do not provide for posting of non-KAS officers against KAS cadre posts including those at the level of Special Scale of KAS.
The posts borne on the KAS cadre include Heads of the Departments (Directors), Managing Directors of the Corporations, Municipal Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Additional District Development Commissioners in the field and Special Secretaries at the Secretariat level.
However, during the past quite long time successive Governments continued to discriminate with the KAS officers by allowing blue-eyed officers to occupy the KAS cadre posts despite resentment from the J&K Administrative Service officers.
The situation worsened during the regime of previous National Conference-Congress Coalition Government, when number of non-cadre officers holding the posts of KAS officers registered sharp rise because of political interventions managed by such officers, sources informed. The General Administration Department, which is the custodian of J&K Administrative Service officers, always remained mute spectators to such proposals instead of guiding the successive Governments on the subject to ensure justice with the cadre officers.
Though during the major reshuffle in today’s Cabinet some non-KAS cadre officers were shown the door from the HoD level posts for reporting to the General Administration Department but some non-KAS cadre officers still managed HoD level posts by the dint of links in the political and top bureaucratic circles, sources said.
On the other hand, there are several HoD level posts, which are still occupied by the non-KAS officers and they were not touched because General Administration Department didn’t project the real picture before the Cabinet, which otherwise was imperative to ensure that administration runs strictly as per rules and not by favoritism, sources regretted.
Several KAS officers, on the condition of anonymity, told EXCELSIOR that Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who has promised transparency in the administration, should ensure proper implementation of KAS Rules in order to end the heart burning among them because of preference to the non-KAS officers.
Not only on this aspect, strong resentment is also brewing among large number of KAS officers over biased and partial attitude being adopted by the General Administration Department, which otherwise is meant for cadre control, especially on the aspect of non-implementation of the directions of the Supreme Court and State High Court on the seniority dispute in letter and spirit.
The Supreme Court in two judgments has categorically held that when two groups of employees are fighting with each other, the State is supposed to act neutral and implement court orders. Moreover, the Supreme Court in the year 2009 in a case titled “Urban Improvement Trust Bikaner Versus Mohan Lal” has held that State should not encourage frivolous and unjust litigation and the State should behave as responsible litigant and should not act in a callous and high handed manner.
However, the GAD instead of implementing the rules and regulations and the judgment of the High Court has preferred multiple LPAs/SLPs and tried to complicate the issue unnecessarily to take mileage out of the mess. “In a bizarre practice, the General Administration Department engaged private counsels to plead directly or indirectly the cause of one section of KAS officers before the Supreme Court”, sources said.
Even on this issue, the aggrieved KAS officers are pinning hopes on the new Government for cleaning of the mess and fixing accountability for those who have made the officers to suffer for five years due to unnecessary litigation and manipulations.
According to the sources, a contempt petition against GAD is also listed before the State High Court on March 18 for not implementing the directions of High Court even after clarifications from the Supreme Court.
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