The transparency and accountability have been the buzz words of successive regimes in Jammu & Kashmir but the unprecedented rise in the graph of corruption over the period of years has brought the state on the top of the list of most corrupt states in the country. Shamelessly the successive chief ministers never dared to act against several tainted ministers of their own regimes facing trial even this time in premier investigative agencies of the state government and the incumbent Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti too does not muster the courage to reopen the cases of such ministers . Consequently several tainted bureaucrats holding key positions in the upper rungs of civil and police administration have been left untouched by the investigative agencies of the state government at the whims of some of the former ministers . So the investigative agencies of the government are virtually forced to show selectivity in the conduct of investigations against some tainted top retired and serving bureaucrats. This pick and choose policy of the investigative agencies is tantamount to intentional dereliction of duty by the investigators conducting investigation of several cases of huge misappropriation of publicfunds. Though normally the government awards promotions on annual performance reports and clearance certificates from state vigiliance organization (SVO) and other investigative agencies of the state government, but the procedure is followed on selective basis to clear decks for promotions of tainted officers and official in both civil and police administration. This selectiveness in investigation processes by the premier investigative agencies of the state government has left deeper impact on the already worsening work culture in both civil and police administration.
If at all Chief Minister is in any way serious about the working of the investigative agencies of the government, the selectiveness in the process of investigations and promotions respectively has to curbed with a heavy hand to institutionalize transparency and accountably in both civil and police administration.
So the hollowness of the claims about transparency and accountability in civil and police administration are rooted in the selectiveness of the investigative agencies and the violation of the procedures adopted for promotion in both civil and police administration. While the fact remains that every employee of the state government is governed by a set of rules, but different yardsticks applied in the process of investigations and promotion by the investigative agencies and the departmental promotion committees (DPCs’) of the government departments are proving detrimental for the process of transparency and accountability in both civil and police administration. If at all Chief Minister is in any way serious about the working of the investigative agencies of the government, the selectiveness in the process of investigations and promotions respectively has to curbed with a heavy hand to institutionalize transparency and accountably in both civil and police administration.
