Srinagar: The government has extended till October 30 the time frame for submitting Inquiry report into the selections of the J&K Khadi Village and Industries Board (KVIB) which saw among others appointment of son Sartaj Madni, PDP senior leader and maternal uncle of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, as an executive officer of the board.
The enquiry is being carried by the three member panel headed R K Goyal, principal secretary home department. Its members include IAS officers– Dr Pawal Kotwal and Farooq Ahmad Shah.
The High Level Inquiry Committee has been tasked to enquire into the complaints relating to the alleged unfair selection made by the J&K Khadi and Village Industries Board against various posts; determine as to whether proper procedure as laid down in the relevant rules have been followed, as has been done by the other recruiting agencies or not; enquire into the methodology in selecting the agency(ies) for setting the question, evaluation process etc.; and ascertain whether any deviation has been made in the selection process from advertising the posts to the release of selection lists.
“In continuation to Government Order No.462-GAD of 2018 dated 19.03.2018 read with Government Order No.733-GAD of 2018 dated 27.04.2018, the term for finalizing the report by the Inquiry Committee constituted to enquire into the selection made by the J&K Khadi Village & Industries Board against various posts is further extended up to 31.10.2018,” reads an order issued by the government on September 28.
Pertinently, former Chief Minister Mehbooba had announced probe days after the then ruling PDP come under a barrage of criticism over the appointment of the son of then PDP vice-president (Sartaj Madini) as an executive officer in the KVIB.
Syed Aroot Madni, the son of PDP’s Vice president, featured in the selection list of the Board, while the nephew of PDP general secretary and KVIB vice-chairman Peerzada Mansoor Hussain has been placed in the waiting list for the post of assistant executive officer.
The PDP has termed the selection as fair, and Sartaj Madni himself had questioned whether or not the sons of politicians deserved a chance to seek employment and livelihood.
But the opposition National Conference had hit out at the PDP describing the selection as “institutionalization of corruption,” while netizens termed the appointment as “fraudulent” and had sought an explanation from the ruling coalition partner.
Amid severe castigation on social networking sites, top bureaucrat Shah Faesal said that the case warranted a police case if allegations of malpractices in the selection process were true.
“If it’s true that the merit list has been rigged,” Faesal, who was then managing director of the J and K Power Development Corporation, wrote on facebook, “then instead of an inquiry there should be an FIR. High time that we take those people to task who push our educated youngsters to the wall and kill their confidence.”
According to his Facebook profile, Aroot is the youth president of the PDP for the Divsar assembly constituency from where his father had lost elections in 2014.
