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Frequent transfers in J&K

Kashmir Times. Dated: 3/15/2017 11:47:26 PM

No merits and demerits are taken into consideration before transfers and postings are ordered by the government

Transfers and postings of officers in the Jammu and Kashmir administration on frequent basis do not appear to augur well for the government as well as the people. This exercise appears to have become an industry for the cabinet ministers and politicians, who are guided by their whims and fancies besides liking and disliking of the individuals for posting of officers in the state. No parameters appear to have been adopted for affecting the transfers and postings of the officers in the administration. Every now and then, the cabinet ministers have transfers as a major agenda for the meetings whether they happen before and after the bi-annual Durbar Move of the offices between the two capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar. Even in the recent past, some of the officers have been posted without adhering to the rules and regulations that have been framed by the establishment committees, which have been put in place few years back for evaluating the merits and demerits of the officers at the place of their postings. Now that the transfers and postings are now being ordered in a whimsical manner, the assessments of the establishment committees have been ignored and dumped time and again for the reasons best known to the ministers concerned. Some of the officers, who have been accused corrupt practices at their present or previous postings have been again rewarded with plum postings of their choice by the successive state governments. The complaints of the public against such officers are not only set aside but also dumped for their being one-sided affair without any inquiry. The officers who have been accused of corruption and cases registered against them are also ordered to be transferred and posted as per the choice of the ministers concerned. It is a sad state of affairs that no time frame for a particular posting is adhered to when the transfers are ordered by the government. The officers have barely few weeks or few months at their present place of posting when they are shifted. Moreover, such postings are ordered before the officers have a grasp of the departments under their charge and start working on the new assignment.
Apart from what has happened in the past, the coalition government is treading on the same beaten path which has been adopted by the previous governments on transfers and postings of officers. Now the interferences of the ministers and politicians have gone down to the extent of choice of candidates at the level of Police Posts and Police Stations one side and revenue officials to the level of Patwaris, Naib Tehsildars and Tehsildars. These officials are frequently uprooted from one place or the other without any justification. This is the reason that some of the cadre officials in the lower rungs of Revenue Department had gone on strike in protest against the frequent transfers within a few months from the places where they were posted only in the recent past. Same is the case in respect of officials in other departments of the government. There is a curious case of the Principals of the two Medical Colleges in Jammu and Srinagar where they have been transferred and new doctors posted there without allowing them to complete their period on the specific post without any reason. There has been no justifiable explanation from the government for their transfers. Some of the officers who were sent on training on central deputation and abroad on career advancement programmes have been attached with the General Administration Department without any credible reason for doing so. There are many such cases pending in the police department, which is the face of the government, and the officers are waiting their transfers. Some of them have been transferred to one place and overnight the orders were modified at the instance of the ministers due to their likings and disliking. Such whimsical behaviour of the politicians has only added to the uncertainty in the departments under the charge of these officers and there is a feeling of Democal's sword hanging over their heads for mo reason. Instead of having productive output from the officers, frequent transfers have only disturbed the working conditions in the government departments.