Is Law Secretary Tantray law unto himself?

Bureaucrat draws Rs 27,694 from state exchequer for attending wedding in TN

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 20: With the opposition complaining of ‘financial anarchy’ in Jammu & Kashmir, a senior bureaucrat has created an embarrassing situation for Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather by attending a private marriage ceremony in Tamil Nadu and drawing entire expenditure from the state exchequer.

Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that in total violation of law, Law Secretary Ghulam Hassan Tantray today withdrew an amount of Rs 27,694 from an official account of the Department of Law on account of attending a private wedding ceremony in Tamil Nadu earlier this month. Without the sanction and approval of any financial authority, the amount of Rs 27,694 was credited to Mr Tantray’s personal salary account No: 3375 at Moving Branch of Jammu & Kashmir Bank at Civil Secretariat today.

Asked how the amount, incurred on the bureaucrat’s private visit, had been sanctioned and drawn from the public exchequer, Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer in Law Department, P C Gupta, said that the treasury transaction had happened without his knowledge and approval. “I am the Drawing & Disbursing Officer of Current Account No: 149. I am sure I have neither sanctioned this expenditure nor got it transferred to Law Secretary’s personal account”, Mr Gupta asserted.

He explained that there was a set procedure of sanctioning official visits of the government servants and seeking approval from competent authority. “No such approval, sanction or transaction on this subject is in my knowledge. If at all this has happened, this may be within the confines of the cashier of Law Department and the Law Secretary’s subordinate staff. There’s no question of authorization of such bills from me”, Mr Gupta added. He made it clear that a government servant could in no circumstances draw expenditure of private visit from the public exchequer. “I’ll check tomorrow if any secret accounts are being operated there without the knowledge and sanction of Finance Department”, he said.

Even as Director General of Accounts & Treasuries, Mr Wali Mohammad, did not respond to calls from this newspaper, a far senior public functionary of the department admitted that there was no question of claiming air travel and other expenditure made by a public servant on account of a private wedding that too outside the state. He said that the state government employees were entitled to certain monetary benefits which they claim as Leave Travel Concession (LTC).

“They avail this opportunity once a year and always in company of their family members. They seek prior permission to it from the competent authority, take station leave permission, return after not less than two weeks and claim the reimbursement due to them under rules.  But, there is no such approval or sanction on record anywhere from Law Department to General Administration Department (GAD) to Finance Department”, he said after checking the records.

Another senior functionary regulating the Finance Department and official accounts said that rules were unambiguously clear on this subject. He said that sometimes officials dovetail government business with private functions and thus claim reimbursement. “But, nothing of the sort is on record. There is no such order regarding any official meeting in Tamil Nadu from GAD till 2300 hours tonight. Even the mandatory station leave permission has not been sought by the official in question from Chief Secretary for traveling to Tamil Nadu around October 8^th.”

Advocate General of J&K Government, Mohammad Ishaq Qadiri, too maintained that there was no question of any public servant claiming the expenditure on private visits like attending wedding ceremonies. “I too attended the wedding you are referring to but I paid every penny out of my pocket. How could one claim it from public exchequer?” Mr Qadiri asked, without insisting to know the identity of the bureaucrat who had actually drawn the amount today.

Inquiries revealed that Mr Tantray stayed at a guest house of the Government of Tamil Nadu from October 8^th to October 10^th. Back in Srinagar, he produced his air tickets to a concerned official and got the money transferred from the public exchequer to his personal account today. Mr Tantray could not be reached for his explanation but sources in Jammu and Kashmir Bank confirmed to Early Times that the amount of Rs 27,694 was credited to his personal account.

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