The State Finance Commission (SFC) says that J&K is neck deep in corruption
‘Bribery All Pervasive,Omnipresent In The State’
Muddasir Ali (Greater Kashmir)
Srinagar: Observations by a quasi-official body on prevalence of corruption in Jammu and Kashmir has warned that the illegal practice has become “all pervasive and omnipresent” in the state with conventional laws hardly proving effective.
In its report submitted to government, the State Finance Commission has termed certain public offices as “citadels of corruption and festering sores,” asking government to take “special care” of them by installing close circuit cameras in such places.
The report has noticed that laws to deal with “rampant graft and blatant embezzlement of public money” are falling short of the need and the existing apparatus to deal with corruption has not touched the “subjects beyond the fringes.”
“Corruption is so all pervasive, omnipresent and ubiquitous in J&K that very few nooks in corridors of administration will willingly countenance discussion on it,” the Commission has warned in chapter VIII (volume II) of its voluminous report.
The 3-member panel, headed by former bureaucrat Dr Mehmood-ur-Rehman, was constituted in 2007 to suggest measures for bringing reforms in the administration and for equitable development of all the three regions of the state.
A study by global organization Transparency International had rated J&K as the second most corrupt state in India in 2005 while in 2008 another study by the organization rated J&K as “alarmingly corrupt.” Though government has taken certain initiatives to deal with the concern in form of implementation of the Right to Information Act, however constitution of State Vigilance Commission and re-constitution of State Accountability Commission still remains a distant dream.
The SFC report highlights that the corruption, in its multi-faceted forms, has overtaken society so deeply that the government could not remain unaffected by the “virus.”
Citing examples, the report mentions that role of ethics and pubic morality in allotment of public contracts, procurement of material, engagement of public servants, disposal of business in offices and courts, issuance of permits and licenses, manufacturing of goods and pharmaceuticals, and even plying of vehicles on the highway is “depressingly poor.”
On “citadels” of corruption, the report mentions: “We are compelled to name the offices. These are offices of Regional Transport Officers in Jammu and Kashmir, and their sub-offices in the districts, office of excise commissioner and offices of excise and taxation officers, office of sales tax commissioner and sales tax officer, all traffic postings and office of traffic commissioner.”
The report questions government policy to “extend largesse” in form of medals, out of turn increments and promotions, saying it is invariably proving counter-productive and must be avoided. The grant of plethora of permits, licenses, release of salaries, stipends and permission must be made transparent, the report stresses. “At present nothing can be achieved without greasing the palms.”
Postings to lucrative jobs, the report mentions, should be made after due scrutiny of names and the officials who always hanker for such jobs must be avoided.
The report highlights that pace of investigation in corruption related cases, filling up of cases in the anti-corruption courts and their disposal is “tardy” and the investigation mechanism is dilatory and the methodology adopted for it is time consuming, yielding no results.
On role of anti-corruption body, Vigilance Organization(VO), the panel says it is not working independently and has invariably been part of police organization, thus finding it difficult to work beyond confines of police regulatory system.
The VO, the report proposes, should be directly reporting to the Chief Minister on all matters pertaining to public servants, and the issue pertaining to vigilance and corruption requires a close scrutiny.
“We recommend that a very eminent person with impeccable track record should be given the freedom to advise the government on functioning of the Vigilance Commissionerate to deal with corruption.”
The panel goes on to recommend that the Chief Minister should discuss the pendency of the corruption cases with the Chief Justice once a year.
However the report mentions that incidentally some conscientious officers are discharging their duties honestly but their number is ‘few and far between.’