Elections triggers annoyance among JK IIPA members

Srinagar: All is not going well within the IIPA (Indian Institute of Public Administration) J&K Regional Branch where recently held elections for the executive committee and new office bearers have become a contentious issue. With several members alleging that most of the members are not informed well even for the Annual General Meeeting (AGM) which elected the executive committee and office bearers every year, senior members holding key positions including Vice Chairman A M Watali (Retired DIG) and K B Jandial(Retired Secretary Information, J&K Government) have offered to step down to pave way for youngsters and in service officers to hold the positions.
Quoting sources local news gathering agency KNS reported that bureaucrats who have retired five or ten years back are continuously holding top positions even now as only few but not all members are invited for the Annual General Meeting which elects the executive committee and the office bearers. ” Though all members are obliged to attend the annual general meeting but most of the members from Kashmir are not invited just to ensure that key positions are held by most of the Jammu based members. Some retired bureaucrats are holding the key positions for the last twenty years and often they are going to one room office at old secretariat Srinagar to discuss personal issues but not the academic activities of IIPA”, said a group of members on conditions of anonymity for the reasons of not being invited for the annual general meeting for the last members.
One of the angered members on conditions of anonymity said “the annual General meeting is held in Jammu every year and consequently most of the members from Kashmir fail to attend the meeting called for the election of office bearers”. Virtually embarrassed by the criticism in the Whatsapp group run by JK IIPA the senior members A M Wati the incumbent Vice Chairman and K B Jandial (Retired Secretary Information J&K Government) the one of the sitting members of IIPA executive committee have offered to step down to pave way for the in service and young members to run the activities of IIPA, J&K Regional Branch.
Those elected in the recently held elections at the Annual General Meeting include Dr Ashok Bhan (I PS Retd) the patron, B R Sharma (IAS Retd) the Chairman, Dr C.M.Seth, Vice Chairman (Jammu); A M Watali, IPS (Retd.) Vice Chairman (Kashmir); Dr Pawan Kotwal, IAS (Principal Secretary Health & Medical Education Department, J&K Government) Vice Chairman (Central); Er JBS Johar Hony Secretary; Dr Anil Gupta, Joint Secretary (Jammu); G M Andrabi (SP Retd), Joint Secretary (Kashmir); Vikrant Kuthiala as Hony Treasurer, Prof Alka Sharma Director Seminars, Prof S M Afzal Qadiri (Retired Professor Kashmir University), Joint Director Seminars (Kashmir) and Dr Komal Nagar Joint Director Seminars (Jammu). The 15 member Executive Committee for 2018 – 20 will include Rajeshwar Singh (KPS), Er M M Gupta, Chander Gulhati, Farooq Ahmad, IPS (Retd); K B Jandial, IAS (Retd); Prof Mehraj-ud-Din; Prof Shabir Ahmad Bhat; Vinod Malhotra, Dr G N Qasba ((Former Municipal Commissioner Srinagar); Randheer Singh (KPS); Er S K Gupta; Sameer Rekhi, T P Singh, Er V N Sharma and Col (Retd) Karan Singh.