For Early Times (www.earlytimes.in) of October 27, 2009

After 3 Directors in Kashmir, Dir Jammu in soup now
Governor’s promotee Bashir Dar no different from Hyder Bhat, Manzoor Shah

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ

SRINAGAR, Oct 27: Even as State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) today produced challan against two Directors of Agriculture, namely Ghulam Hyder Bhat and Bashir Ahmed Dar, in an anti-corruption court and another Director, Manzoor Ahmed Shah, is tainted with similar involvement in a different case of embezzlement, incharge Director Agriculture Jammu, Vinod Balla, has been lately referred to Commissioner of Inquiries by Minister of Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, for having drawn the salary of a substantive post of Director for over two years. With this development, both provincial heads of Mir’s sensitive department---one of them promoted during Governor’s rule last year---will be using more of their time to defend themselves in prosecution and investigation than addressing the problems of farmers in Jammu & Kashmir.

When Director Agriculture Kashmir, Manzoor Ahmed Shah, was unceremoniously removed from the top provincial position of his department in Valley these days last year, his junior Bashir Ahmed Dar had managed to grab the top slot while enjoying bureaucratic clout in Governor N N Vohra’s rule. Holding the post of a Joint Director (JD), Dar had been promoted and appointed as HOD in Kashmir inspite of his nearly established involvement in a criminal matter of embezzlement. Surfacing as an embarrassment for both, Governor’s regime that had promoted him and now Omar Abdullah’s government that is retaining him as Director, Dar is among the three senior officials of the state Agriculture Department against whom SVO today produced challan in the Court of Special Judge Anti Corruption Kashmir.

Highly placed official sources revealed to Early Times that incharge Director Agriculture Jammu, Vinod Balla, is also in the dock for having drawn the salary of a substantive post of Director inspite of having been simply a JD for the last over two years. Sources said that her excess drawal was pointed out in an annual administrative inspection of Agriculture Department in August 2009 following which Minister of Agriculture referred the matter against her to the Commissioner of Inquiries last week.

Interestingly, Mrs Balla has remitted entire excess amount of over Rs 80,000 and thereby established her own fraud but she has failed to convince the government as to how she had drawn the salary against a substantive post of Director when she was just confirmed as a JD. Her counterpart in Kashmir, Bashir Ahmed Dar, has begun to pull all strings to retain the top slot after the case of embezzlement against him was challaned and he was in person produced in the court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption, Kashmir, Mrs Gausun-Nissa Jeelani.

In January 2007, Vigilance Organisation Kashmir (VOK) had taken cognizance of a deluge of complaints against then Director of Agriculture Kashmir, Ghulam Hyder Bhat, and then JD (Inputs) Kashmir, Bashir Ahmed Dar, besides then Store Purchase Officer Noor Mohammad Bhat and conducted a preliminary investigation in two particular matters of the purchase of irrigation pump sets and hybrid seed of tomato and chilly. VOK subsequently registered case FIR No: 2 of 2007 under section 5(1) (d) r/w section 5(2) J&K Prevention of Corruption Act Svt. 2006 and sections 120B, 201,204 RPC against the trio.

After nearly two years of investigation, VOK got the sanction to prosecution against the accused in September this year from the Government. Even as Hyder Bhat and Noor Mohammad have retired from service, Government has retained his tainted successor, Bashir Ahmed Dar, as Director Agriculture Kashmir. Those mentioned as accused in the two criminal matters include Ghulam Hyder Bhat S/O Assadullah Bhat R/O Arbal Shalimar, Bashir Ahmad Dar S/O Abdul Rahim Dar R/O Chandpora Harwan, then Joint Director now Director Agriculture Kashmir and Noor Mohmmad Bhat S/O Ghulam Rasool Bhat R/O Nawakadal Srinagar, then Store Purchase Officer in Agriculture Department now retired.

Official sources said that during the course of investigation, VOK has found that the above mentioned accused officers of Agriculture Department in league with each other had purchased 1394 Honda WBK 30 FF and 400 Vijay C-31 Irrigation Pump Sets @ Rs 18,900/- and Rs 17,524/- respectively in the year 2005-06 which were available in the market @ Rs17,120/- and Rs 15,535/- only . In this way the accused officers had put the state exchequer to a loss of Rs 32,76,920/-.

In the same year, they had also purchased hybrid seed of Tomato and Chilly worth Rs 9,01,184/- in the off-season and the whole quantity of the seed was seized by VOK from the Divisional Store of Agriculture Department Kashmir. The seized seed was found to have expired as per the date of expiry printed on the packs and as such the whole purchase of Rs 9,01,184/- was a wasteful expenditure. All the three accused persons were produced in custody in the court which later released them on bail and fixed Dec.08, 2009 as next date of hearing.

All three senior officers---Manzoor Ahmed Shah (presently Director of Enforcement J&K), Vinod Balla and Bashir Ahmed Dar, are confirmed JDs but working against the posts of Director. All three are tainted in corruption related matters.

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