Vakil urges CM to proceed against corrupt Ministers

‘Govt should terminate all advocates appointed on basis of political affiliation’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, May 18: Congress party’s MLC and former Minister Abdul Gani Vakil today complained that a number of the coalition government’s Ministers were neck deep in corruption. While urging Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to ‘rise above the conventional vote bank politics’, Vakil demanded constitution of ‘an independent and credible commission’ which would force the ‘corrupt Ministers and legislators’ to disclose source of their income as quite a number of them, according to him, had acquired thousands of Kanals of prime land and raised palatial bungalows overnight in Srinagar, Jammu and New Delhi.

In Take One Television’s current affairs programme ‘Face To Face With Ahmed Ali Fayyaz’, MLC Abdul Gani Vakil expressed full faith in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s campaign to eradicate corruption but, at the same time, he asserted that it would all prove to be an exercise in futility until the ‘dynamic head of the government’ rose above the (inhibitions of) conventional vote bank politics. “Chief Minister will have to begin from the top. He will have to take drastic steps without thinking much about its consequences as the people at large want a neat and clean system. If, God forbid, he failed, this state is doomed to destruction”, Vakil asserted.

Vakil, who has been without break associated with Congress for over 35 years and functioned as Minister of Social Welfare in Ghulam Nabi Azad-led coalition government in 2007-08, asserted that a number of Ministers in Omar Abdullah’s government, MPs, MLCs and MLAs besides a former Union Cabinet Minister and some former state Ministers, were “neck deep in corruption”. He urged Chief Minister to proceed against them in a no-nonsense manner and constitute “an independent, competent and credible commission” that would force these mainstream political leaders to disclose their source of income. “Many of these Ministers and politicians lived in penurious or modest economic conditions till they assumed office. They have overnight purchased thousands of Kanals of prime land in Jammu and Srinagar and built for themselves palatial bungalows in Srinagar, Jammu and New Delhi. They should be forced to reveal source of their fortunes evidently disproportionate to their known and legal sources of income”, Vakil said.

Refusing to name the politicians, Vakil said that those who, according to him, had become cynosure of all eyes in Kashmir valley, included a former Union Minister “who has acquired 350 Kanals of land and raised palatial bungalows at Humhama” besides two Cabinet Ministers who had lately acquired huge houses worth Crores of Rupees in posh Humhama and Rajbagh localities in Srinagar. He argued that “this demonstration of brazen corruption” was the key source of alienation among thousands of people in Kashmir and had, according to him, led an entire generation to lose faith in the Indian system of governance in the state. He asserted that eradication of corruption among Ministers, legislators and top bureaucrats would solve more than three-fourth of the Kashmir problem.

“Wherever we go, people ask us where these fortunes came from. They cite examples of the politicians and public servants who had nothing to eat until they assumed power but had, overnight, become multi-millionaires”, Vakil said in the talk show that was telecast in Kashmir tonight and would be played on the network in Jammu on Friday next. He said that the biggest problem with the state government was that “some 8 to 9 Ministers” had got stay orders from the court to prevent State Accountability Commission (SAC) from investigating their ill-gotten wealth.

“Government has Rs 500 Crore with 1514 sales tax defaulters. Like our 8 or 9 Ministers, they too have got stay orders from the court. They have engaged the best of the country’s lawyers to protect and defend them. On the other hand, over government has appointed incompetent lawyers as government advocates merely on the basis of their political affiliation. As long as this situation continues, Government is destined to lose all cases. This situation is clearly a decisive advantage for the sales tax defaulters and corrupt politicians”, Vakil asserted. He urged Chief Minister to terminate services of the incompetent solicitors and engage the best of the advocates who should have integrity and competence to get the stay orders vacated and make the defaulters and the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats accountable in all legal and administrative procedures.

“Government has Rs 9 Crore with just one sale tax defaulter. Even if it spends Rs 20 Lakh on the recovery, still it will be richer by more than Rs 8 Crore. There’s no substitute to a strong political will and engagement of competent lawyers, if Omar Sahab has to live upto the expectations of hundreds of thousands of people who have given him mandate to restore accountability among the public men and public servants”, Vakil asserted. According to him, such bold steps only would restore faith of the millions of people in Jammu & Kashmir in “our democratic institutions and the system of governance”.

END