Azad’s man in DD discredits CBI in J&K
Director DDK Srinagar, Rafeeq Masoodi, exonerated under pressure from Minister, DIG
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 31: Credibility of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Jammu & Kashmir has suffered a great deal as the country’s premier investigation agency is understood to have surreptitiously exonerated a senior Doordarshan official who was the prime accused in Srinagar Doordarshan Kendra’s morning show scandal last year. If the official is to be believed, Union Minister of Health and former J&K Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, besides a Kashmiri DIG, presently on deputation with CBI, have influenced the agency only to protect the accused involved in Rs 5 Crore software acquisition scam.
While conducting two raids on DDK Srinagar on 18-05-2009 and 10-06-2009, CBI had registered case FIR No: 02/A/2009/CBI/Sgr against Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Rafeeq Masoodi, two more DD officials associated with the acquisition, namely Ghulam Hassan Dar and Bashir Ahmed Mir, besides six private producers, namely Syed Gulzar Rizvi, Javed Ahmed Shah, G M Magami, Altaf Marazi, Ashfaq Marazi and Irfan Marazi.
Since the CBI had filed the FIR and conducted the raids in high media glare, it has not closed the investigation as a ‘matter not admitted’. Even after questioning over two hundred people and finding that a group of six private producers, all enjoying intimate relations with Dr Masoodi, had floated more than 40 fake banners to swindle the funds allotted for the morning show ‘Subhai Subhai’, CBI has filed chargesheet just against the two junior officials of DDK Srinagar. Their colleagues now call them as “scapegoats”.
CBI had started the investigation after a series of raids on DDK Srinagar on May 18th and June 10th in 2009. It had found and seized 1914 tapes, containing as many as 9,591 segments, purportedly acquired from the group of six private producers for the 5-days-a-week breakfast show. Surprisingly, in the DDK Srinagar records, there was no entry of the tapes deposited in the Producer Ghulam Hassan Dar’s office. Dar instantly revealed to CBI that he had received and dumped the tapes on specific verbal and written orders of Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi.
During the course of the investigation, Dr Masoodi’s involvement was established with foolproof evidence and corroboration from scores of witnesses, including Dar and almost all the private producers interrogated. Procured at the rate of Rs 5,000 per segment from a particular group of the private producers, in total violation of the codal procudure and without any public notification, the consignment involved payment claim of Rs 4.80 Crore as against the annual budget of Rs 1.50 Crore for the programme. Process of the payment was clandestinely underway when CBI acted on written complaints and launched the investigation.
According to sources, CBI learned during the investigation that six blue-eyed boys of Dr Rafeeq Masoodi had floated at least 43 fake banners and firms with fake bank accounts on the advice of Director DDK Srinagar. While an amount of over Rs 1.00 Crore was found to have been withdrawn against the acquisition and deposited in the accounts of the people, who claimed they had no knowledge of the transactions, a number of the account holders remained untraced. Masoodi was found to have extorted “advance commission” of more than Rs 40 Lakhs from the beneficiaries.
On March 8th this year, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, C M Jatua informed the Rajya Sabha that the CBI was probing into the allegation of malpractices by Director of Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar, Dr Rafeeq Masoodi, in bulk purchase of tapes. In a written reply, he said that a complaint had been received against Dr Masoodi alleging that he purchased tapes in bulk containing 9591 segments of programme “Subhai Subhai” from private produces to “obtain maximum amount of illegal gratification.” Jatua stated that the investigation report was “awaited” from the CBI.
However, in days of the Minister’s statement on the floor of the House, the CBI team was influenced by highly placed men in the Union capital. Under this intervention, the key accused have been let off and just two of his junior officials held guilty. This inspite of the fact that Dr Masoodi happened to be the approving authority and his written orders had been seized alongwith the tapes.
Enjoying intimate relationship with Mr Azad and his family for the last two decades, Masoodi was neither shifted nor suspended. Unlike other such accused officials in DD and other Government of India establishments, he was not either arrested or detained for a day for sustained questioning. Browbeating his subordinate officials and private producers with his clout, Masoodi has himself identified his saviours as Ghulam Nabi Azad and a Kashmiri IPS officer posted as DIG in CBI in New Delhi.
Dr Masoodi, according to insiders, has revealed that he had to compensate the IPS officer by allotting an in-house drama serial to his brother, Riyaz Gilani, in recent past.
END
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Mushtaq Uri being pushed as Chairman J&K Bank, Basharat Dhar as VC
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 30: National Conference-led coalition government has decided to recommend a former Executive Director, Mushtaq Uri, as the next Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd within days of Haseeb Drabu’s unceremonious dismissal. Commissioner-Secretary of Power Development Department (PDD), Basharat Ahmed Dhar, is being appointed as Vice Chancellor of Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Awantipore, in place of Prof Sidiq Wahid whose three-year term has expired in September 2008.
Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that Mushtaq Ahmed alias Mushtaq Uri, who retired two years ago as Executive Director, was the NC patriarch Dr Farooq Abdullah’s choice, understandably influenced by his old trusted colleagues---Rajya Sabha Member, Mohammad Shafi Uri, and Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather. Reversing the earlier suggestion of the Board of Directors to constitute a search committee, interim Chairman and Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, straightaway proposed a panel of three names in today’s BOD meeting at Corporate Headquarters of J&K Bank.
Informed sources said that Mushtaq’s name was on the top of the list. Inclusion of two weaker candidates, Mrs Tanvir Jehan and G A Pir, on serial numbers two and three was clear indication of the Government having decided to appoint Mushtaq as Drabu’s successor in J&K Bank. Senior officers of Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS), Jehan and Pir are currently holding the rank of Secretary to Government. While Secretary School Education, Pir was transferred and appointed as Excise Commissioner on August 26th last, Jehan has been functioning as Secretary Higher Education since earlier this year. Neither of these ‘covering candidates’ has a high profile or financial background to merit consideration by Reserve Bank of India.
All the eight Directors on Board were present in today’s meeting. They included interim Chairman of J&K Bank and Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, Abdul Majeed Matoo, Mohammad Ibrahim Shehdad, Prof Nisar Ali, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, B R Dogra, Vikrant Kauthalya and Nihal Garware besides both the Executive Directors, namely Abdul Majeed Mir and A K Mehta. Sources said that none of the 10 Directors on Board, including interim Chairman, raised any objection to what could be interpreted by a many quarters as an arbitrary method of imposing the Government’s nominees on the autonomous financial institution. By virtue of its 53.17% stake, Government of Jammu & Kashmir is enjoying monopoly in all decisions of the bank.
Even as another BOD meeting is scheduled to happen on Tuesday, sources said that Pandey would submit the panel of three names to Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, through the proper channel of Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather, tomorrow. After getting the state government’s mandatory approval, J&K Bank would forward the proposal for ultimate consideration and sanction to the appointment of the new incumbent to RBI.
According to these sources, Dr Abdullah, alongwith his much marginalized coterie, was calling the shots in the fresh political appointments. Senior NC leaders like Abdul Rahim Rather, Mohammad Shafi Uri, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan and Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Mohammad Akbar Lone, were reportedly playing key role in the fresh developments that dramatically initiated with a closed-door meeting of the NC’s Core Group here last week. Sources said that Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, was very much in the loop, though holding a low-key profile. “Politicians have the peoples’ mandate. How long can agencies’ men rule this state?”, was a big question at the NC’s Core Group meeting, according to sources.
Sources revealed that as a part of the fresh political appointments, new Vice Chancellors were shortly being appointed for IUST Awantipore and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri. Even as Prof Sidiq Wahid’s three-year term had expired in September 2008 and a duly appointed search committee, headed by Mehmood-ur-Rehman, had recommended a panel of four names, Government has failed to appoint VC for IUST in the last two years. Chief Minister (Head of the Government and the Muslim Auqaf) is the appointing authority. In absence of a decision from the Chief Minister’s office, Prof Wahid has been acting as VC at IUST without authority since September 2008.
Sources revealed that the state government had, of late, managed to remove the name of the top panelist, Prof Nisar Ali, and inserted the name of Commissioner-Secretary PDD, Basharat Ahmed Dhar, in the Mehmood-ur-Rehman led search committee report. This is being viewed as a clear indication of the Government’s choice having zeroed in on the senior bureaucrat Basharat Ahmed Dhar, retiring from service next year. Earlier, Basharat was understood to be lobbying for a membership in the State Public Service Commission. Sources said that the new VC for BGSB University would be a choice of the ruling coalition partner, Congress. Fresh process of search was now underway for VCs of both the universities.
Meanwhile, sources added, that today’s BOD meeting at J&K Bank accorded approval to the draft MOU to be executed between the state government’s Department of Labour and Employment and the J&K Bank for the purpose of providing financial support, including Seed Capital, to the trainee entrepreneurs being recommended by EDI under Sher-e-Kashmir Employment & Welfare Scheme for Youth (SKEWPY). The BOD also approved Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) to provide employment to over 6,000 youth in almost all the villages of the state. Some of the huge credit proposals were sanctioned but at least five of these proposals, including one in power sector, were categorically rejected.
In a significant development, BOD did not approve minutes of a previous meeting whereby Chairman’s monthly salary had been raised from Rs 3.10 Lakhs to Rs 4.50 Lakh. Prevailing upon half-a-dozen Directors on Board, Drabu had hiked his own salary from Rs 37 Lakh a year to Rs 54 Lakh a year last month. When the minutes of the previous meeting came up for confirmation today, a number of the Directors objected to the hike with the argument was Chairmen and MDs of most of the Indian natioanlised banks were drawing just around Rs 1.20 Lakh a month.
END
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 30: National Conference-led coalition government has decided to recommend a former Executive Director, Mushtaq Uri, as the next Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd within days of Haseeb Drabu’s unceremonious dismissal. Commissioner-Secretary of Power Development Department (PDD), Basharat Ahmed Dhar, is being appointed as Vice Chancellor of Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Awantipore, in place of Prof Sidiq Wahid whose three-year term has expired in September 2008.
Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that Mushtaq Ahmed alias Mushtaq Uri, who retired two years ago as Executive Director, was the NC patriarch Dr Farooq Abdullah’s choice, understandably influenced by his old trusted colleagues---Rajya Sabha Member, Mohammad Shafi Uri, and Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather. Reversing the earlier suggestion of the Board of Directors to constitute a search committee, interim Chairman and Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, straightaway proposed a panel of three names in today’s BOD meeting at Corporate Headquarters of J&K Bank.
Informed sources said that Mushtaq’s name was on the top of the list. Inclusion of two weaker candidates, Mrs Tanvir Jehan and G A Pir, on serial numbers two and three was clear indication of the Government having decided to appoint Mushtaq as Drabu’s successor in J&K Bank. Senior officers of Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS), Jehan and Pir are currently holding the rank of Secretary to Government. While Secretary School Education, Pir was transferred and appointed as Excise Commissioner on August 26th last, Jehan has been functioning as Secretary Higher Education since earlier this year. Neither of these ‘covering candidates’ has a high profile or financial background to merit consideration by Reserve Bank of India.
All the eight Directors on Board were present in today’s meeting. They included interim Chairman of J&K Bank and Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, Abdul Majeed Matoo, Mohammad Ibrahim Shehdad, Prof Nisar Ali, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, B R Dogra, Vikrant Kauthalya and Nihal Garware besides both the Executive Directors, namely Abdul Majeed Mir and A K Mehta. Sources said that none of the 10 Directors on Board, including interim Chairman, raised any objection to what could be interpreted by a many quarters as an arbitrary method of imposing the Government’s nominees on the autonomous financial institution. By virtue of its 53.17% stake, Government of Jammu & Kashmir is enjoying monopoly in all decisions of the bank.
Even as another BOD meeting is scheduled to happen on Tuesday, sources said that Pandey would submit the panel of three names to Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, through the proper channel of Minister of Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather, tomorrow. After getting the state government’s mandatory approval, J&K Bank would forward the proposal for ultimate consideration and sanction to the appointment of the new incumbent to RBI.
According to these sources, Dr Abdullah, alongwith his much marginalized coterie, was calling the shots in the fresh political appointments. Senior NC leaders like Abdul Rahim Rather, Mohammad Shafi Uri, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan and Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Mohammad Akbar Lone, were reportedly playing key role in the fresh developments that dramatically initiated with a closed-door meeting of the NC’s Core Group here last week. Sources said that Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, was very much in the loop, though holding a low-key profile. “Politicians have the peoples’ mandate. How long can agencies’ men rule this state?”, was a big question at the NC’s Core Group meeting, according to sources.
Sources revealed that as a part of the fresh political appointments, new Vice Chancellors were shortly being appointed for IUST Awantipore and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri. Even as Prof Sidiq Wahid’s three-year term had expired in September 2008 and a duly appointed search committee, headed by Mehmood-ur-Rehman, had recommended a panel of four names, Government has failed to appoint VC for IUST in the last two years. Chief Minister (Head of the Government and the Muslim Auqaf) is the appointing authority. In absence of a decision from the Chief Minister’s office, Prof Wahid has been acting as VC at IUST without authority since September 2008.
Sources revealed that the state government had, of late, managed to remove the name of the top panelist, Prof Nisar Ali, and inserted the name of Commissioner-Secretary PDD, Basharat Ahmed Dhar, in the Mehmood-ur-Rehman led search committee report. This is being viewed as a clear indication of the Government’s choice having zeroed in on the senior bureaucrat Basharat Ahmed Dhar, retiring from service next year. Earlier, Basharat was understood to be lobbying for a membership in the State Public Service Commission. Sources said that the new VC for BGSB University would be a choice of the ruling coalition partner, Congress. Fresh process of search was now underway for VCs of both the universities.
Meanwhile, sources added, that today’s BOD meeting at J&K Bank accorded approval to the draft MOU to be executed between the state government’s Department of Labour and Employment and the J&K Bank for the purpose of providing financial support, including Seed Capital, to the trainee entrepreneurs being recommended by EDI under Sher-e-Kashmir Employment & Welfare Scheme for Youth (SKEWPY). The BOD also approved Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) to provide employment to over 6,000 youth in almost all the villages of the state. Some of the huge credit proposals were sanctioned but at least five of these proposals, including one in power sector, were categorically rejected.
In a significant development, BOD did not approve minutes of a previous meeting whereby Chairman’s monthly salary had been raised from Rs 3.10 Lakhs to Rs 4.50 Lakh. Prevailing upon half-a-dozen Directors on Board, Drabu had hiked his own salary from Rs 37 Lakh a year to Rs 54 Lakh a year last month. When the minutes of the previous meeting came up for confirmation today, a number of the Directors objected to the hike with the argument was Chairmen and MDs of most of the Indian natioanlised banks were drawing just around Rs 1.20 Lakh a month.
END
DD Director treats RTI applications with contempt
Applicants bribed to silence; Jammu lawyer moving CIC
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 30: Director of Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) Srinagar, Dr Rafeeq Masoodi, has introduced an imaginative mechanism to subvert the process of seeking information under Right To Information (RTI) Act. None of the applicants till date has been provided any information whenever anybody made an attempt to know how DDK Srinagar had been spending its annual budget of around Rs 15 Crore. Insiders insist that almost all the applicants have been obliged with allotment of programmes so as to prevent them from approaching the higher authorities.
Prominent advocate of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Sheikh Shakil Ahmed, is till date the first and the last applicant who has decided to approach the appellate forum at Directorate General of Doordarshan and the Central Information Commission. On March 19, 2010, Advocate Shakil had filed an application under the central RTI Act with Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi, and sought information regarding the programmes purportedly produced by seven particular producers, namely Sudesh Bakshi, Kousar Parveen, Syed Zeeshan Fazil, Rashid Javed, Haleema Parveen, Shammi Shayir and Mufti Riyaz.
Advocate Shakil had filed the application after allegations were galore that Director, DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi, had swindled funds worth Crores of Rupees in league with seven particular producers. Public Information Officer (PIO), Shabir Mujahid, was bound by the law to provide the information requisitioned within 28 days.
“I had filed the application under RTI on March 19th, 2010. The information should have been provided to me by or before April 15th, 2010. When there was no response from DDK Srinagar, I sent a reminder through a telegram. In May, I received a letter, dated April 22, 2010, from PIO and Deputy Director of DDK Srinagar, Shabir Mujahid, who assured me to provide the information in the next few days and sought time of two more weeks. Thereafter, there has been absolutely no response from DDK Srinagar. I have sent a number of reminders through telegrams to Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Rafeeq Masoodi, and PIO, Shabir Mujahid. They have not bothered to reply in the last 166 days. Now I am moving the appellate authority at Directorate General of Doordarshan as well as the Central Information Commission, headed by Mr Wajahat Habibullah”, Advocate Shakil told Early Times. He revealed that some of Masoodi’s “touts” had meanwhile attempted to bribe me like a number of RTI applicants in the past. “I made it clear to them that my application was in the interest of the people and there was no question of my withdrawing the same”, Shakil added. He claimed that the DD authorities did not bother to even respond to his reminders, including the telegrams dated 3-5-2010 and 31-5-2010.
Through his reliable sources, Shakil claimed to have learned that a group of seven particular producers, working under Director Rafeeq Masoodi’s instructions, had drawn huge amounts of money on account of producing programmes that had never been made. Months after Shakil filed the application, CBI conducted a raid on the office and residence of one of the seven producers, namely Kausar Parveen, and Administrative Officer, Noor Mohammad Qazi, and recovered a huge quantity of incriminating documents, including pass books, checque books and ATM cards of over 20 fake account holders in whose name money had been fraudulently drawn from DDK Srinagar.
CBI is currently investigating the scam but Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi, has been publicly telling officials and private producers that the Union Minister of Health, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and a Kashmiri Police officer, posted as DIG in CBI at New Delhi, had issued “necessary instructions” to the investigators in Srinagar that neither he nor the producer, Kausar Parveen, should be arrested or held guilty in any matter.
Efforts to reach Dr Masoodi for his comments failed as his cell phone was continuously switched off, nobody responded from his residence numbers and his office maintained that he was “out”.
END
Applicants bribed to silence; Jammu lawyer moving CIC
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 30: Director of Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) Srinagar, Dr Rafeeq Masoodi, has introduced an imaginative mechanism to subvert the process of seeking information under Right To Information (RTI) Act. None of the applicants till date has been provided any information whenever anybody made an attempt to know how DDK Srinagar had been spending its annual budget of around Rs 15 Crore. Insiders insist that almost all the applicants have been obliged with allotment of programmes so as to prevent them from approaching the higher authorities.
Prominent advocate of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Sheikh Shakil Ahmed, is till date the first and the last applicant who has decided to approach the appellate forum at Directorate General of Doordarshan and the Central Information Commission. On March 19, 2010, Advocate Shakil had filed an application under the central RTI Act with Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi, and sought information regarding the programmes purportedly produced by seven particular producers, namely Sudesh Bakshi, Kousar Parveen, Syed Zeeshan Fazil, Rashid Javed, Haleema Parveen, Shammi Shayir and Mufti Riyaz.
Advocate Shakil had filed the application after allegations were galore that Director, DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi, had swindled funds worth Crores of Rupees in league with seven particular producers. Public Information Officer (PIO), Shabir Mujahid, was bound by the law to provide the information requisitioned within 28 days.
“I had filed the application under RTI on March 19th, 2010. The information should have been provided to me by or before April 15th, 2010. When there was no response from DDK Srinagar, I sent a reminder through a telegram. In May, I received a letter, dated April 22, 2010, from PIO and Deputy Director of DDK Srinagar, Shabir Mujahid, who assured me to provide the information in the next few days and sought time of two more weeks. Thereafter, there has been absolutely no response from DDK Srinagar. I have sent a number of reminders through telegrams to Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Rafeeq Masoodi, and PIO, Shabir Mujahid. They have not bothered to reply in the last 166 days. Now I am moving the appellate authority at Directorate General of Doordarshan as well as the Central Information Commission, headed by Mr Wajahat Habibullah”, Advocate Shakil told Early Times. He revealed that some of Masoodi’s “touts” had meanwhile attempted to bribe me like a number of RTI applicants in the past. “I made it clear to them that my application was in the interest of the people and there was no question of my withdrawing the same”, Shakil added. He claimed that the DD authorities did not bother to even respond to his reminders, including the telegrams dated 3-5-2010 and 31-5-2010.
Through his reliable sources, Shakil claimed to have learned that a group of seven particular producers, working under Director Rafeeq Masoodi’s instructions, had drawn huge amounts of money on account of producing programmes that had never been made. Months after Shakil filed the application, CBI conducted a raid on the office and residence of one of the seven producers, namely Kausar Parveen, and Administrative Officer, Noor Mohammad Qazi, and recovered a huge quantity of incriminating documents, including pass books, checque books and ATM cards of over 20 fake account holders in whose name money had been fraudulently drawn from DDK Srinagar.
CBI is currently investigating the scam but Director DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi, has been publicly telling officials and private producers that the Union Minister of Health, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and a Kashmiri Police officer, posted as DIG in CBI at New Delhi, had issued “necessary instructions” to the investigators in Srinagar that neither he nor the producer, Kausar Parveen, should be arrested or held guilty in any matter.
Efforts to reach Dr Masoodi for his comments failed as his cell phone was continuously switched off, nobody responded from his residence numbers and his office maintained that he was “out”.
END
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Omar slaps legal notice on Nizam, Naeem
‘Tender apology or face Rs 10 Cr damage suit’
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 28: Rattled by PDP’s accusation of Rs 500 Cr kickbacks in the allotment of 690 mw Rattle Hydroelectric Power Project, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today served a legal notice on MLA Nizam-ud-din Bhat and the party’s spokesperson, Naeem Akhtar, asking them to either withdraw the charge and tender their apologies publicly or face Rs 10 Cr each damage suit in a court of law. PDP, however, is understood to be determined to fight the legal battle and prove all the allegations made by its MLAs and senior leaders at a news conference here on August 25th.
Informed sources revealed to Early Times that Chief Minister discussed the legal course with a number of senior lawyers, including Advocate General, Mohammad Ishaq Qadiri, and some of his contacts in New Delhi. He finally decided to engage senior practitioner at Supreme Court of India and former Additional Solicitor General of India, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, to file and pursue a defamation suit against the PDP legislators and leaders. Singhvi also happens to be a spokesman of the Congress party.
An official press release today said that Chief Minister sent a legal notice, settled by Dr Singhvi, on PDP’s MLA, Nizam-ud-din Bhat and the party spokesman, Naeem Akhtar, for levelling “baseless, fabricated, concocted, frivolous, false and defamatory allegations” against his person in a bid to defame him and damage his reputation. The notice calls upon the PDP leaders to publicly apologize and withdraw the allegations made against Mr Abdullah within seven days, failing which he would be constrained to initiate “appropriate legal proceedings” against them, including civil and criminal remedies.
According to the legal notice, Chief Minister would, in absence of appropriate response from the PDP leaders, file a criminal complaint under J&K Code of Criminal Procedure, 1933, obviously in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar. He would also separately file a defamation suit in J&K High Court, demanding damages worth Rs 10 Cr each from the respondents.
Asked for his comments, Bhat maintained that he had not received any legal notice from the Chief Minister. “It is the matter of our party. PDP will frame its response after we receive such a notice”, he said. Well-placed sources in the PDP, however, said that the party top brass was determined to fight the legal battle. “Mufti Sahib is in possession of concrete evidence of what our MLAs said at the press conference. We have acquired MOU and other details involving the allotment and the transaction”, a senior PDP functionary said. According to him, party had already sounded its senior leader and eminent lawyer, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, to prepare the defence. “There is no question of our withdrawing the charges or apologizing to the government”.
Legal experts pointed out that there is no history of any damages payment or punishment to a guilty even as hundreds of defamation suits have been filed against individuals in the last 60 years. They said that no punishment was on record in high profile cases involving eminent personalities like Sofi Ghulam Mohammad and Shameem Ahmed Shameem in Srinagar and Balraj Puri and Prof Chaman Lal Gupta in Jammu.
END
‘Tender apology or face Rs 10 Cr damage suit’
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 28: Rattled by PDP’s accusation of Rs 500 Cr kickbacks in the allotment of 690 mw Rattle Hydroelectric Power Project, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today served a legal notice on MLA Nizam-ud-din Bhat and the party’s spokesperson, Naeem Akhtar, asking them to either withdraw the charge and tender their apologies publicly or face Rs 10 Cr each damage suit in a court of law. PDP, however, is understood to be determined to fight the legal battle and prove all the allegations made by its MLAs and senior leaders at a news conference here on August 25th.
Informed sources revealed to Early Times that Chief Minister discussed the legal course with a number of senior lawyers, including Advocate General, Mohammad Ishaq Qadiri, and some of his contacts in New Delhi. He finally decided to engage senior practitioner at Supreme Court of India and former Additional Solicitor General of India, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, to file and pursue a defamation suit against the PDP legislators and leaders. Singhvi also happens to be a spokesman of the Congress party.
An official press release today said that Chief Minister sent a legal notice, settled by Dr Singhvi, on PDP’s MLA, Nizam-ud-din Bhat and the party spokesman, Naeem Akhtar, for levelling “baseless, fabricated, concocted, frivolous, false and defamatory allegations” against his person in a bid to defame him and damage his reputation. The notice calls upon the PDP leaders to publicly apologize and withdraw the allegations made against Mr Abdullah within seven days, failing which he would be constrained to initiate “appropriate legal proceedings” against them, including civil and criminal remedies.
According to the legal notice, Chief Minister would, in absence of appropriate response from the PDP leaders, file a criminal complaint under J&K Code of Criminal Procedure, 1933, obviously in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar. He would also separately file a defamation suit in J&K High Court, demanding damages worth Rs 10 Cr each from the respondents.
Asked for his comments, Bhat maintained that he had not received any legal notice from the Chief Minister. “It is the matter of our party. PDP will frame its response after we receive such a notice”, he said. Well-placed sources in the PDP, however, said that the party top brass was determined to fight the legal battle. “Mufti Sahib is in possession of concrete evidence of what our MLAs said at the press conference. We have acquired MOU and other details involving the allotment and the transaction”, a senior PDP functionary said. According to him, party had already sounded its senior leader and eminent lawyer, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, to prepare the defence. “There is no question of our withdrawing the charges or apologizing to the government”.
Legal experts pointed out that there is no history of any damages payment or punishment to a guilty even as hundreds of defamation suits have been filed against individuals in the last 60 years. They said that no punishment was on record in high profile cases involving eminent personalities like Sofi Ghulam Mohammad and Shameem Ahmed Shameem in Srinagar and Balraj Puri and Prof Chaman Lal Gupta in Jammu.
END
Friday, August 27, 2010
Drabu relieved, Pandey takes over as interim Chairman
Eminent banker, one among Directors, Soz’s son eying top slot in J&K Bank
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: Minutes after Haseeb Drabu was relieved from the prestigious position, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, today took over as interim Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. Those eying the top slot now include a high-profile banker, one of the Directors on Board besides Gulf-based son of Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President, Prof Saif-ud-din Soz.
Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s discovery, Haseeb Drabu, today submitted his resignation as Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd, a day after Omar Abdullah-led government communicated to him that he was no more needed in the bank. On Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s directions, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, had called on Drabu yesterday and sought his resignation. Pandey, according to sources, had made it clear to Drabu that the state government would get him dismissed by way of a no-confidence resolution in an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) if he failed to put in his papers within 24 hours.
Sources in the bank said that Drabu today tendered his resignation to BOD which was later accepted in a specially convened meeting at the Corporate Headquarters. Thereafter, BOD unanimously passed the resolution of the appointment of Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, Commissioner-Secretary Finance with J&K Government and a Director on Board, as interim Chairman of the bank. As required under rules, the resolution thus passed was lastly submitted for approval to Reserve Bank of India. With this, Pandey took over as interim Chairman.
BOD also decided to constitute a search committee in its next scheduled meeting here on August 30th for the purpose of making and submitting a panel of three names for the post of Chairman and Chief Executive of the bank to RBI. After assessing merits and qualifications of the incumbents, RBI as the competent authority can pick up the Chairman from the list or reject it.
While two of the Directors on Board, namely Rakesh Kumar Gupta and Nihal Garware were absent, all the eight others participated in today’s extraordinary meeting that lasted for 90 minutes. They included Sudhanshu Pandey, Prof Nisar Ali, Abdul Majeed Matoo, Mohammad Ibrahim Shehdad, Vikrant Kauthalya and B R Dogra besides both the Executive Directors of the bank, namely Abdul Majeed Mir and A K Mehta.
Informed sources revealed to Early Times that in apprehension of a possible mischief, like creating the bogey of instability, by certain elements, the search committee to be constituted on August 30th would be asked to make and submit a panel of three names to RBI as early as possible. Today’s fall of nearly 6 percent in share value of the bank at BSE fueled such speculation, even as the bank’s fundamentals have been consistently strong since 1996. Some key functionaries of the bank, sources said, were fearing sustained demoralization of the foreign institutional investors by certain elements within and outside the bank.
With today’s dramatic development, race has begun for the top slot. According to the informed sources, a top ranking banker of national reputation, one of the Directors on Board (who is a high profile economist and administrator) besides the Gulf-based son of Prof Soz had been lobbying for the position of Chairman at J&K Bank. Prof Soz’s son, has been heading the Gulf operations of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation for quite some time. Over a dozen other aspirants were also expected to submit their candidature to the Search Committee.
END
Eminent banker, one among Directors, Soz’s son eying top slot in J&K Bank
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: Minutes after Haseeb Drabu was relieved from the prestigious position, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, today took over as interim Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. Those eying the top slot now include a high-profile banker, one of the Directors on Board besides Gulf-based son of Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President, Prof Saif-ud-din Soz.
Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s discovery, Haseeb Drabu, today submitted his resignation as Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd, a day after Omar Abdullah-led government communicated to him that he was no more needed in the bank. On Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s directions, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, had called on Drabu yesterday and sought his resignation. Pandey, according to sources, had made it clear to Drabu that the state government would get him dismissed by way of a no-confidence resolution in an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) if he failed to put in his papers within 24 hours.
Sources in the bank said that Drabu today tendered his resignation to BOD which was later accepted in a specially convened meeting at the Corporate Headquarters. Thereafter, BOD unanimously passed the resolution of the appointment of Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, Commissioner-Secretary Finance with J&K Government and a Director on Board, as interim Chairman of the bank. As required under rules, the resolution thus passed was lastly submitted for approval to Reserve Bank of India. With this, Pandey took over as interim Chairman.
BOD also decided to constitute a search committee in its next scheduled meeting here on August 30th for the purpose of making and submitting a panel of three names for the post of Chairman and Chief Executive of the bank to RBI. After assessing merits and qualifications of the incumbents, RBI as the competent authority can pick up the Chairman from the list or reject it.
While two of the Directors on Board, namely Rakesh Kumar Gupta and Nihal Garware were absent, all the eight others participated in today’s extraordinary meeting that lasted for 90 minutes. They included Sudhanshu Pandey, Prof Nisar Ali, Abdul Majeed Matoo, Mohammad Ibrahim Shehdad, Vikrant Kauthalya and B R Dogra besides both the Executive Directors of the bank, namely Abdul Majeed Mir and A K Mehta.
Informed sources revealed to Early Times that in apprehension of a possible mischief, like creating the bogey of instability, by certain elements, the search committee to be constituted on August 30th would be asked to make and submit a panel of three names to RBI as early as possible. Today’s fall of nearly 6 percent in share value of the bank at BSE fueled such speculation, even as the bank’s fundamentals have been consistently strong since 1996. Some key functionaries of the bank, sources said, were fearing sustained demoralization of the foreign institutional investors by certain elements within and outside the bank.
With today’s dramatic development, race has begun for the top slot. According to the informed sources, a top ranking banker of national reputation, one of the Directors on Board (who is a high profile economist and administrator) besides the Gulf-based son of Prof Soz had been lobbying for the position of Chairman at J&K Bank. Prof Soz’s son, has been heading the Gulf operations of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation for quite some time. Over a dozen other aspirants were also expected to submit their candidature to the Search Committee.
END
Omar getting top lawyers to sue PDP
‘They’ll soon taste consequences of unfounded accusations’
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is hiring the country’s leading lawyers to file and pursue a suit of defamation against the opposition PDP MLAs who had, earlier this week, charged him with accepting bribe money of Rs 500 Crore on account of allotment of 690 mw Rattle Hydroelectric power project. Preparations are expeditiously underway to file the libel suit in Jammu & Kashmir High Court next week.
“They (PDP) had been”, Chief Minister told this correspondent, “in the habit of leveling unsubstantiated accusations from day one of my government. Last year, they did it and ate the humble pie within days. This year, we ignored a number of frivolous allegations from them. But, enough is enough. I have taken this baseless accusation of Rs 500 Crore kickbacks extremely seriously and decided to file against them a civil and criminal suit of defamation in J&K High Court”.
Chief Minister said that preparations were underway to file the libel suit against the PDP leaders, who had leveled the allegation against him at a news conference here on August 25th, in J&K High Court next week. He revealed that he was presently in touch with some of the top ranking lawyers of the country in New Delhi who would be pursuing his private lawsuit. “I am determined to put an end to their character assassination campaign as this time around they have crossed all limits. I think the best course would be to file and pursue a defamation suit. I am taking this fight to its logical conclusion at any cost”, Omar asserted. He said that all those who had leveled the “unfounded allegation” would soon taste the consequences of sullying the image of political leaders.
He claimed that there was “not an iota of truth” in the PDP leaders’ accusation as entire process of allotment of the power project, according to him, was “completely transparent and clean”. He said that even the second lowest bidder, Tata Power, had sent him a letter of appreciation while appreciating transparency and cleanliness of the process and aspiring to continuously participate in the forthcoming competitions.
Omar strongly refuted the allegation of having drawn and swindled ‘secret funds worth Rs 26 Crore” in the last few weeks. He claimed that total volume of the unaccountable funds available with J&K Chief Minister for a calendar year was not even half of what the PDP MLAs had mentioned.
Meanwhile, informed sources said, PDP top brass was also discussing Chief Minister’s threat of filing a defamation suit with a number of legal luminaries, including senior PDP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig. Baig is understood to have opined that a criminal suit was not maintainable in this particular case and the civil one could be comfortably contested in the court of law.
END
‘They’ll soon taste consequences of unfounded accusations’
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is hiring the country’s leading lawyers to file and pursue a suit of defamation against the opposition PDP MLAs who had, earlier this week, charged him with accepting bribe money of Rs 500 Crore on account of allotment of 690 mw Rattle Hydroelectric power project. Preparations are expeditiously underway to file the libel suit in Jammu & Kashmir High Court next week.
“They (PDP) had been”, Chief Minister told this correspondent, “in the habit of leveling unsubstantiated accusations from day one of my government. Last year, they did it and ate the humble pie within days. This year, we ignored a number of frivolous allegations from them. But, enough is enough. I have taken this baseless accusation of Rs 500 Crore kickbacks extremely seriously and decided to file against them a civil and criminal suit of defamation in J&K High Court”.
Chief Minister said that preparations were underway to file the libel suit against the PDP leaders, who had leveled the allegation against him at a news conference here on August 25th, in J&K High Court next week. He revealed that he was presently in touch with some of the top ranking lawyers of the country in New Delhi who would be pursuing his private lawsuit. “I am determined to put an end to their character assassination campaign as this time around they have crossed all limits. I think the best course would be to file and pursue a defamation suit. I am taking this fight to its logical conclusion at any cost”, Omar asserted. He said that all those who had leveled the “unfounded allegation” would soon taste the consequences of sullying the image of political leaders.
He claimed that there was “not an iota of truth” in the PDP leaders’ accusation as entire process of allotment of the power project, according to him, was “completely transparent and clean”. He said that even the second lowest bidder, Tata Power, had sent him a letter of appreciation while appreciating transparency and cleanliness of the process and aspiring to continuously participate in the forthcoming competitions.
Omar strongly refuted the allegation of having drawn and swindled ‘secret funds worth Rs 26 Crore” in the last few weeks. He claimed that total volume of the unaccountable funds available with J&K Chief Minister for a calendar year was not even half of what the PDP MLAs had mentioned.
Meanwhile, informed sources said, PDP top brass was also discussing Chief Minister’s threat of filing a defamation suit with a number of legal luminaries, including senior PDP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig. Baig is understood to have opined that a criminal suit was not maintainable in this particular case and the civil one could be comfortably contested in the court of law.
END
BB Vyas is Pr Secy to CM Rajindra is almost DGP Sahai back as IG Kashmir
Omar begins to act as CM
Khursheed, Basharat, Mehboob, Varghese, Lankar, Farooq removed from key positions; IG Security, SSP Security attached for I-Day security breach
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 26: Raising stark indications of a Cabinet reshuffle and a massive overhaul in Police and civil administration in near future, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today took bold initiatives to refurbish the image of his non-performing coalition government. While dismissing Ghulam Mohammad Saroori as a Minister of his Cabinet, Chief Minister today directed the all-powerful Chairman of Jammu &n Kashmir Bank Ltd to submit his resignation “within 24 hours”. With the search already underway for new Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Cabinet today ordered a top level reshuffle in both Police and bureaucracy. The most powerful bureaucrats and Police officials removed unceremoniously from key positions in the government included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Khursheed Ahmed Ganai, Commissioner-Secretary General Administration Department Basharat Ahmed Dhar, Commissioner-Secretary PWD Mehboob Iqbal, Financial Commissioner Home Sameul Varghese, IGP Kashmir Farooq Ahmed and Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Naseema Lankar. IG and SSP of Security Wing have been attached over the infamous security breach of Independence Day at Bakhshi Memorial Sports Stadium.
Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that a host of developments---Congress party’s Cabinet Minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori’s refusal to resign and some bureaucrats’ alleged contribution to the PDP press conference on Wednesday included---led Omar Abdullah to take some of the boldest decisions of his 20-month-long coalition government. Acting over a verbal communication from the Congress High Command, sources said, Chief Minister wrote a letter to Governor N N Vohra, requesting him to dismiss Saroori as a Minister of his Cabinet. Late this evening, Governor dismissed Saroori as a Cabinet Minister on Chief Minister’s recommendation.
Following the involvement of Saroori’ daughter in the lately exposed impersonation scandal at ASCOMS, Jammu, Congress High Command had asked the Minister of R&B to submit his resignation. He, however, declined to having received any such direction from the party high command and left for Saudi Arabia, alongwith his wife and the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s brother, Ghulam Mustafa Azad, on Wednesday. His recalcitrance finally led to his dismissal today. Chief Minister retained Saroori’s portfolio with himself. Sources said that in a possible Cabinet reshuffle “within 15 days”, Chief Minister would assign R&B portfolio to a new Minister from Congress party.
In another significant development, Chief Minister sent Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, to Corporate Headquarters of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd and asked him to immediately get Chairman Haseeb Drabu’s resignation. Pandey, sources said, drove all the way to his assigned destination and communicated the state government’s direction to Drabu. He made it clear to Drabu that in case he failed to submit his resignation within 24 hours, Government would be constrained to call an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors to seek his dismissal. Sources said that Chief Minister desired Drabu’s resignation after having received from Reserve Bank of India a dossier of gross irregularities committed in J&K Bank in the last five years. Sources said that acquisition of real estate without genuine need, against huge kickbacks in some metros recently, was also a major factor behind the government’s decision.
According to these sources, search was already underway to find suitable replacements for Chief Secretary S S Kapur and DGP, Kuldeep Khoda.
Meanwhile, a Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, ordered a massive reshuffle in top rungs of Police and bureaucracy. Powerful bureaucrats removed from key positions included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Khursheed Ahmed Ganai, Commissioner-Secretary General Administration Department, Basharat Ahmed Dhar, Commissioner-Secretary PWD, Mehboob Iqbal, Financial Commissioner Home, Sameul Varghese, IGP Kashmir, Farooq Ahmed, and Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Naseema Lankar.
Ganai and Dhar were mercifully adjusted as Commissioner-Secretary Planning & Development and Power Development Department, respectively. That is exactly how Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had dealt with Iqbal Khanday, then Principal Secretary to Chief Minister. Bharat Bhushan Vyas, who has held important positions in his 20-year-long career, including Principal Secretary to Governor, Secretary Finance and Commissioner-Secretary P&D, has been appointed as the new Principal Secretary to Chief Minister. He is known for his hardwork and public relations. Vyas would be retaining the charge of Chief Executive of Economic Reconstruction Agency.
While abolishing lately created posts of Special Commissioner North Kashmir and Special IG North Kashmir, Cabinet appointed Mohammad Sayeed Khan as the new Secretary GAD while as Pankaj Saxena was sent on a Central deputation. Cabinet removed senior IAS officer, Sameul Varghese, as Financial Commissioner Home and appointed him as Chairman of Special Tribunal. Key accused in Gulmarg Land Scandal, Mehboob Iqbal has been removed as Commissioner-Secretary R&B and attached to GAD. Cabinet also removed Mrs Naseema Lankar as Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir and appointed her as Commissioner-Secretary School Education in place of G A Pir who has been appointed as the new Excise Commissioner.
Commissioner-Secretary PDD, B R Sharma, has been transferred and appointed as Commissioner-Secretary Home.
Asgar Hassan Samoon has been appointed as the new Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir.
Chairman Special Tribunal, K B Agarwal, has been transferred and appointed as the new Commissioner-Secretary R&B in place of Mehboob Iqbal.
Pardeep Gupta, Excise Commissioner, J&K has been transferred and posted as Secretary, CAPD/ Transport.
G. A. Qureshi, Vice Chairman, Jammu Development Authority has been transferred and posted as Joint Financial Commissioner (AR).
Vinod Shamra, Director ERA has been transferred and posted as Vice Chairman, Jammu Development Authority.
Cabinet also ordered a major reshuffle in top rungs of J&K Police. ADG CIG, K Rajendra Kumar, has been transferred and appointed as ADG Armed and Law & Order. He has become the most important Police official, after DGP Khoda, by his appointment as ADG Law & Order as both, IGP Kashmir and IGP Jammu, would be directly reporting to him. Rajendra has held a very successful stint as IGP Kashmir. A known counter-insurgent, Rajindra has a high profile in anti-militancy operations. He had got critically injured in a militant attack on then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s rally at Sher-e-Kashmir Park in 2007.
Terminating his year-long punishment as “OSD” at J&K House New Delhi, Government has recalled another high profile operational officer, Shiv Murari Sahai, and yet again appointed him as IGP Kashmir in place of Farooq Ahmed, who has been appointed as IG Security. IG Headquarters, Dr B Srinivas, has been transferred and appointed as IG CID. He has been replaced by Mrs D R Doley. IGP Armed, Dilbagh Singh, has been transferred and posted as Director SKPTA, Udhampur in place of Naveen Agarwal, who has been appointed as IG Railway. Arun Chowdhary has been posted as IG Technical Service, PHQ in place of Zahoor Chisti, who has been appointed as IGP Armed/ IRP Kashmir.
IG Railways, Ravinder Kotwal, has been transferred and posted as IG Armed/ IRP Jammu.SSP Pulwama, Syed Kifayat Haider, has been transferred and posted as SSP Security, Kashmir. Abdul Razak Khan, presently looking after the charge of SP Pulwama has been transferred and posted as SP Pulwama.
Sources said that Government has attached IGP Security, Ram Lubhaya, as well as SSP Security Rafeequl Hassan, over the recent security breach on I-Day at bakshi Stadium when a suspended head constable, Abdul Ahad Jan, had occupied then Home Secretary Tashi Dorjay’s chair and hurled a shoe on Chief Minister. Sources said that further investigation into the matter was still underway.
END
Omar begins to act as CM
Khursheed, Basharat, Mehboob, Varghese, Lankar, Farooq removed from key positions; IG Security, SSP Security attached for I-Day security breach
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 26: Raising stark indications of a Cabinet reshuffle and a massive overhaul in Police and civil administration in near future, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today took bold initiatives to refurbish the image of his non-performing coalition government. While dismissing Ghulam Mohammad Saroori as a Minister of his Cabinet, Chief Minister today directed the all-powerful Chairman of Jammu &n Kashmir Bank Ltd to submit his resignation “within 24 hours”. With the search already underway for new Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Cabinet today ordered a top level reshuffle in both Police and bureaucracy. The most powerful bureaucrats and Police officials removed unceremoniously from key positions in the government included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Khursheed Ahmed Ganai, Commissioner-Secretary General Administration Department Basharat Ahmed Dhar, Commissioner-Secretary PWD Mehboob Iqbal, Financial Commissioner Home Sameul Varghese, IGP Kashmir Farooq Ahmed and Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Naseema Lankar. IG and SSP of Security Wing have been attached over the infamous security breach of Independence Day at Bakhshi Memorial Sports Stadium.
Highly placed authoritative sources revealed to Early Times that a host of developments---Congress party’s Cabinet Minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori’s refusal to resign and some bureaucrats’ alleged contribution to the PDP press conference on Wednesday included---led Omar Abdullah to take some of the boldest decisions of his 20-month-long coalition government. Acting over a verbal communication from the Congress High Command, sources said, Chief Minister wrote a letter to Governor N N Vohra, requesting him to dismiss Saroori as a Minister of his Cabinet. Late this evening, Governor dismissed Saroori as a Cabinet Minister on Chief Minister’s recommendation.
Following the involvement of Saroori’ daughter in the lately exposed impersonation scandal at ASCOMS, Jammu, Congress High Command had asked the Minister of R&B to submit his resignation. He, however, declined to having received any such direction from the party high command and left for Saudi Arabia, alongwith his wife and the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s brother, Ghulam Mustafa Azad, on Wednesday. His recalcitrance finally led to his dismissal today. Chief Minister retained Saroori’s portfolio with himself. Sources said that in a possible Cabinet reshuffle “within 15 days”, Chief Minister would assign R&B portfolio to a new Minister from Congress party.
In another significant development, Chief Minister sent Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, to Corporate Headquarters of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd and asked him to immediately get Chairman Haseeb Drabu’s resignation. Pandey, sources said, drove all the way to his assigned destination and communicated the state government’s direction to Drabu. He made it clear to Drabu that in case he failed to submit his resignation within 24 hours, Government would be constrained to call an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors to seek his dismissal. Sources said that Chief Minister desired Drabu’s resignation after having received from Reserve Bank of India a dossier of gross irregularities committed in J&K Bank in the last five years. Sources said that acquisition of real estate without genuine need, against huge kickbacks in some metros recently, was also a major factor behind the government’s decision.
According to these sources, search was already underway to find suitable replacements for Chief Secretary S S Kapur and DGP, Kuldeep Khoda.
Meanwhile, a Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, ordered a massive reshuffle in top rungs of Police and bureaucracy. Powerful bureaucrats removed from key positions included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Khursheed Ahmed Ganai, Commissioner-Secretary General Administration Department, Basharat Ahmed Dhar, Commissioner-Secretary PWD, Mehboob Iqbal, Financial Commissioner Home, Sameul Varghese, IGP Kashmir, Farooq Ahmed, and Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Naseema Lankar.
Ganai and Dhar were mercifully adjusted as Commissioner-Secretary Planning & Development and Power Development Department, respectively. That is exactly how Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had dealt with Iqbal Khanday, then Principal Secretary to Chief Minister. Bharat Bhushan Vyas, who has held important positions in his 20-year-long career, including Principal Secretary to Governor, Secretary Finance and Commissioner-Secretary P&D, has been appointed as the new Principal Secretary to Chief Minister. He is known for his hardwork and public relations. Vyas would be retaining the charge of Chief Executive of Economic Reconstruction Agency.
While abolishing lately created posts of Special Commissioner North Kashmir and Special IG North Kashmir, Cabinet appointed Mohammad Sayeed Khan as the new Secretary GAD while as Pankaj Saxena was sent on a Central deputation. Cabinet removed senior IAS officer, Sameul Varghese, as Financial Commissioner Home and appointed him as Chairman of Special Tribunal. Key accused in Gulmarg Land Scandal, Mehboob Iqbal has been removed as Commissioner-Secretary R&B and attached to GAD. Cabinet also removed Mrs Naseema Lankar as Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir and appointed her as Commissioner-Secretary School Education in place of G A Pir who has been appointed as the new Excise Commissioner.
Commissioner-Secretary PDD, B R Sharma, has been transferred and appointed as Commissioner-Secretary Home.
Asgar Hassan Samoon has been appointed as the new Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir.
Chairman Special Tribunal, K B Agarwal, has been transferred and appointed as the new Commissioner-Secretary R&B in place of Mehboob Iqbal.
Pardeep Gupta, Excise Commissioner, J&K has been transferred and posted as Secretary, CAPD/ Transport.
G. A. Qureshi, Vice Chairman, Jammu Development Authority has been transferred and posted as Joint Financial Commissioner (AR).
Vinod Shamra, Director ERA has been transferred and posted as Vice Chairman, Jammu Development Authority.
Cabinet also ordered a major reshuffle in top rungs of J&K Police. ADG CIG, K Rajendra Kumar, has been transferred and appointed as ADG Armed and Law & Order. He has become the most important Police official, after DGP Khoda, by his appointment as ADG Law & Order as both, IGP Kashmir and IGP Jammu, would be directly reporting to him. Rajendra has held a very successful stint as IGP Kashmir. A known counter-insurgent, Rajindra has a high profile in anti-militancy operations. He had got critically injured in a militant attack on then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s rally at Sher-e-Kashmir Park in 2007.
Terminating his year-long punishment as “OSD” at J&K House New Delhi, Government has recalled another high profile operational officer, Shiv Murari Sahai, and yet again appointed him as IGP Kashmir in place of Farooq Ahmed, who has been appointed as IG Security. IG Headquarters, Dr B Srinivas, has been transferred and appointed as IG CID. He has been replaced by Mrs D R Doley. IGP Armed, Dilbagh Singh, has been transferred and posted as Director SKPTA, Udhampur in place of Naveen Agarwal, who has been appointed as IG Railway. Arun Chowdhary has been posted as IG Technical Service, PHQ in place of Zahoor Chisti, who has been appointed as IGP Armed/ IRP Kashmir.
IG Railways, Ravinder Kotwal, has been transferred and posted as IG Armed/ IRP Jammu.SSP Pulwama, Syed Kifayat Haider, has been transferred and posted as SSP Security, Kashmir. Abdul Razak Khan, presently looking after the charge of SP Pulwama has been transferred and posted as SP Pulwama.
Sources said that Government has attached IGP Security, Ram Lubhaya, as well as SSP Security Rafeequl Hassan, over the recent security breach on I-Day at bakshi Stadium when a suspended head constable, Abdul Ahad Jan, had occupied then Home Secretary Tashi Dorjay’s chair and hurled a shoe on Chief Minister. Sources said that further investigation into the matter was still underway.
END
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