Mehbooba Mufti demands action against senior corrupt officers; overlooks mass terminations by govt

A day after the Union Territory administration ordered the termination of services of 36 constables of Jammu and Kashmir for their involvement in corruption and criminal activities, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti charged J&K government with shielding the corrupt top-ranking officers and taking action against only low-rank officials.

Low-rank officers are fired without any investigation, while no action has been taken against senior bureaucrats involved in corruption in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti charged on Friday.

"Odd that LG admin hasn't taken action against senior bureaucrats involved in cash for govt jobs scams-FAA, JKSI, etc. Post-2019 a new ecosystem of officers have emerged who are amassing millions without any accountability while low-rank officers are fired without any investigation," the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister wrote on Twitter.

Earlier on Monday Mehbooba Mufti alleged that some high-profile persons were involved in recently exposed recruitment scams in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir. She asked Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to reveal the name of the kingpin involved in committing such frauds.

"Lieutenant Governor should reveal the name of the kingpin public to restore shattered confidence of the people", she said but hastened to add that authorities could not muster the guts to reveal the name of the kingpin because it would cause a problem for all.

"Why authorities were forced to cancel these selection lists?", Mehbooba asked, adding, "People of J&K want to know who committed the fraud".

36 cops of J&K Police sacked for indulging in corrupt practices 

J&K Government on Thursday prematurely retired 36 police personnel on charges of their involvement in corruption and criminal activities. These police personnel conducted their duties in ways that were unbecoming of public servants and in violation of the established code of conduct.

The exercise was conducted as part of the regular process of scrutiny of records of officials, who cross benchmarks of age/service period in terms of Article 226(2) of J&K CSRs. These employees were found involved in illegal activities, remained unauthorizedly absent from duties for a considerable period, underperformed, penalized in departmental inquiries and some of them were found involved in corruption cases, facing serious criminal charges, and had doubtful integrity.

As per the recommendations of the Review Committee, the performance of these employees was found non-satisfactory and their continuation in the Government service was found against the public interest.

During the recent past, as part of its zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, various employees have been dismissed from service on account of official misconduct, after rigorously following departmental proceedings against them, while as many cases are under scrutiny with the Empowered Committees constituted for consideration of cases under Article 226(2) of J&K CSRs. Further, many employees have also been terminated from service on account of anti-national activities.