Political arrogance of the incumbent ministers and bureaucratic ignorance of the top babus can be gauged from sensational revealations about the backdoor appointments and the placement of the back door appointees on key positions in the upper and middle rungs of civil administration. Setting a new example of nepotism and corruption in the State, the incumbent ministers of PDP-BJP coalition government have thrown to wind all the rules which are to be followed in government appointment . Though this is not the first time that ministers have appointed blue eyed candidate without following the recruitment procedure but the height of political arrogance and bureaucratic arrogance is the placement of the backdoor appointees on higher positions in the civil administration. Ironically one of backdoor appointees has been designated as Commissioner Disabilities and other two as directors and with this the ministers have without seeking the nod of the cabinet put them at par with the super time scale of Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) officers. Till yesterday the KAS officers were opposing the placement of some non cadre officers on cadre posts but virtually frustrated KAS officers don’t dare to talk about the placement of backdoor appointees on cadre positions in the higher echelons of civil administration. Even after the reports about the backdoor appointments and placement of backdoor appointees went viral on social networking sites facebook and twitter, the government did not dare to come out even with a clarification which used to be usual precedence in the past.
The blatant violations of rules setting a new precedence of backdoor appointment and illegal promotions inevitably demands the immediate intervention of the Governor who has the constitutional powers to intervene in the matters concerning transparency and accountability in the governing institutions.
The government which does not bother to convene cabinet meetings for the transfers and postings of the top officials of IPG and Commissioner Secretary ranks has now become so habitual of setting bad precedence of enforcing unlawful decisions that it has unauthorisedly ordered the placement of backdoor appointees on cadre positions in the middle and upper rungs of the state bureaucracy. The past precedence was that even for the appointment of a consultant for any centrally sponsored project the government would advertise the post, set up a selection panel and devise a selection procedure for the appointment but the incumbent ministers have not shown any respect to the institutional procedures by adjusting their blue eyed boys on plum positions in centrally sponsored projects and government departments without following the given recruitment procedures. Now ministers have not only ruined institutions by facilitating backdoor appointment but they have set aside all rules and regulation to facilitate three and four step promotions for their hot favourites in most of the key departments. So the backdoor appointments ordered with the approval of some ministers of doubtful integrity is one issue and the unlawful two step, three step and four step promotions ordered in several key government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) ordered at the whims and wishes of some top ministers is the other issue. The blatant violations of rules setting a new precedence of backdoor appointment and illegal promotions inevitably demands the immediate intervention of the Governor who has the constitutional powers to intervene in the matters concerning transparency and accountability in the governing institutions.
