Editorial
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| | Corruption unlimited | | Omar government lacks will and capacity to make governance accountable, transparent | | Undeniably, corruption has been multiplying with every passing day in Jammu and Kashmir, a state which had earned the dubious distinction of being the second most corrupt state in the country. Any fresh survey in this regard may put J&K on the top of the corrupt states. The recent revelations about illegal appointments, land grabbing, gross misuse of funds allocated by the Centre for various central projects, amassing of wealth by politicians and bureaucrats make it obvious that instead of checking the menace of corruption the policies and actions of the present coalition headed by Omar Abdullah have not only left the field free for corrupt occupying the political and bureaucratic chairs but have also resulted in shielding even those found guilty. Despite these revelations about the stinking state affairs the chief minister and his government feel least concerned about the situation. Even the startling disclosures about the swindling of public funds have failed to wake the Rip Van Winkles in the State administration.
The State government has not only failed to eliminate corruption from the body politic and the administration but has also not taken steps to evolve an institutional mechanism to deal with this menace. The State Accountability Commission (SAC) when it was set up initially had started well despite the flaws in the law and lack of cooperation from the administration. The anemic State Accountability Bill, passed by the legislature had several flaws and the Commission was not even provided adequate infrastructure, particularly its own investigating agency. Still it started functioning creating much hopes about the reduction, if not elimination, of corruption both at the political and administrative level. When it took up cases of corruption and misuse of office against ministers, other publicmen and influential bureaucrats hurdles were created in the smooth functioning of this institution with the result that the first chairman of SAC, Justice R.P.Sethi was left with no other choice but to quit office. This made the institution redundant. The present government took two years even to select the chairman and members of the Commission, but failed to provide it the needed infrastructure. In a couple of cases the State High Court has stayed the proceedings against some influential persons charged with corruption. The SAC has still not been provided with its own investigating agency and has even been denied of official cooperation. That makes this institution totally irrelevant.
Omar Abdullah government has not only to shown its reluctance strengthen the existing institutions but has also been dragging its feet in the matter of evolving institutional mechanism to deal with corruption. It has not initiated any move to suitable amend the State Accountability Act to make it effective in dealing with the cases of corruption. It has not shown any inclination even to provide an independent investigating agency for SAC. The judicial intervention, because of the flaws in the law, has come as another major hurdle in the way of its functioning. The much-publicised Vigilance Commission has died its premature death due to the manner in which the chief minister and his government wanted to have a person of their choice to head it. The State’s Anti-Corruption law is too retrogressive to make any dent as for as all pervasive corruption is concerned The measure like the filing of annual statements of their assets by the ministers, other publicmen and bureaucrats is being violated with impunity. Most of them are not filing their statements regularly and there is no mechanism to scrutinize them. Most of them have amassed wealth by misusing their office and powers. Worse, the government has failed to take measures for plugging the sources of corruption like the appointments, transfers and promotions, allotment of contracts and work for multi-crore projects. The transfer industry, a major source of corruption, is thriving unhindered with the government even reluctant to implement some of the recommendations made by the Working Group on ensuring good governance, submitted in Mach 2007. It seems that those at the helm have a vested interest to subvert all moves for dealing with the canker of corruption. |
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