449 gazetted officers facing corruption charges in J&K

Tahir Mushtaq


JAMMU, Dec 10: While the appointment of Chairman State Accountability Commission (SAC) has been put into cold storage, nearly 449 senior officers are facing trial in courts in different corruption cases in Jammu and Kashmir.


Sources said that nearly 210 cases involved 449 gazetted officers are pending before the Courts of Special Judge Anti-Corruption in Jammu and Srinagar.


Cases are also pending against 30 IAS officers, 20 IPS officers, 10 IFS officers, 3 former Vice-Chancellors of Universities, former Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, 4 former Chief Engineers and former Director General of Police (DGP), official sources said.


Around 245 complaints against former and present ministers, MLAs of Jammu and Kashmir are pending before the Commission. The complaints pertain to the corruption, misuse of power, misappropriation, bunglings and illegal appointments.


The Gazetted officers including former directors social welfare and agriculture Kashmir, former chief engineers irrigation & flood control and roads and buildings, Kashmir division, executive engineers, block medical officers (BMOs) and block development officers (BDOs) are among prominent Gazetted officers who still are being tried against corruption charges.


The J&K was ranked as the 'number: 2 corrupt State in India' during the Congress-PDP coalition regime in Jammu and Kashmir.


“It must be a wakeup call for the State Government which is boasting of being committed to eliminate corruption from the state”, said a official.


Pertinent to mention here that in its report submitted to government, the SFC 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.


According to the Transparency International India (TII), J&K is the second most corrupt state in India, which itself is the most corrupt country in the world with corrupt elements having stashed nearly 400 lakh crores of Indian rupees in the foreign banks, mostly in Switzerland.


However, insiders contest on the condition of anonymity the conclusion of the TII and say J&K is not the second most corrupt state but the most corrupt state in the country. Their view is that there are several persons in and outside the establishment who became multi-millionaire overnight.