Jammu, 04-07-2022: Describing the wholesale transfer orders being issued by various govt deptts on day to day basis as the only achievement of the govt, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh, Former Minister, and senior AAP leader accused the present regime of promoting corruption and nepotism through the mode of Transfer Industry. He said that the slogans of accountability and transparency stood exposed with the myth of good governance having been completely busted in view of a well-knit transfer mafia operational and flourishing in the UT. He said that the most distressing aspect was the non-recording of reasons as mandated under the transfer policy for all the premature transfers which had been effected at the whims and fancies of helmsmen for their vested political, personal, and pecuniary interests.
Maintaining that promotion of the transfer industry seemed to be the only concern of the current dispensation during the past few years, Mr. Singh regretted that the nasty conduct of the helmsmen had taken a heavy toll on the general governance of the UT. He further regretted that the mechanism of transfers in J&K had been plagued with the menace of favouritism, nepotism, monetary, and other extraneous considerations with no regard to the individual’s suitability and efficiency for the prescribed job. He regretted that what mattered most in the transfers was the bureaucratic clout and proximity to corridors of power thereby jeopardizing the very concept of transparency and accountability. He said non-compliance with set guidelines and arbitrariness in the matter had led to highly capricious and politicized transfers providing ample scope for corrupt practices. He said that Education Deptt had earned the most dubious notoriety in the matter of whimsical transfers adding further that transfers made in various other departments especially the Power, PHE, Police, Revenue, and RDD had demonstrated the highly parochial and irrational nature of transfers and exploded the myth of good governance. Alleging that a large-scale booty had exchanged hands in the said transfers, he sought a thorough probe into all such transfers and their complete review having regard to the prescribed norms. He said that RDD, Health, PHE, and Power Deptts had persistently been under a storms eye as 75-80% of the planned funds were siphoned off in the form of commissions and other undue profiteering and it was barely 18-20% of the funds that were actually utilized on the ground. He said that the menace of paid transfers would further worsen things resulting in negligible ground delivery in Deptts which were assigned the most significant job of infrastructure creation in the UT.
Reminding the Lt. Governor of his persistent statements insisting on minimum possible transfers, he said that several directives were issued on “Good Governance” to make the administration more transparent and accountable. He said the transfer norms announced with fanfare included the elimination of transfer industry and politicized transfers, ban on general transfers, minimum stay of three years, aptitude and experience of officers for the post, fair and objective criteria, non-provision of cadre post to non-cadre persons, decentralization of transfer powers at various levels and non-interference of the government in the transfer of officers at the level of class-II and below which should be entrusted to HODs. Mr. Singh regretted that not a single recommendation on transfers had been honoured in the recent transfer orders by the government which kept on harping on the slogans of transparency and good governance.
Mr. Harsh Dev Singh said that anomalies and discrepancies were galore in the government functioning not only in the matter of transfers but promotions as well. He said there were cases in abundance, numbering in thousands, where favourite officials were made to climb the ladder through backdoors and made to reach the top without legal sanction. He said several officers were elevated in charge capacity without the regularization of their postings. He regretted that such ad-hoc, in-charge, and arbitrary promotions were going on unabated in various government Deptts without the same having been cleared by departmental promotion committees. He said that such ad-hoc promotions not only had a demoralizing effect on the officers but were also the root of all corruption. He further pointed out that hundreds of cadre posts had been assigned to and occupied by non-cadre persons, which also amounted to an irregularity of grave nature having been committed by the helmsmen. Urging for a sound transfer and promotion policy, Mr. Singh called for the LG’s personal indulgence to ensure the elimination of the transfer industry in the UT and to give effective treatment to the bureaucrats bitten by the transfer bug.