With Jammu & Kashmir Government time and again reiterating it’s commitment to accountability and institutional transparency in the utilisation of funds for both the developmental projects and as well as the improvement in the delivery of public services an investigation has been ordered into the procurements for the Baltal route of the annual amaranth yatra made by Director Health Service Kashmir during last year. Since violation of the guidelines laid down for making procurements has been noticed and Director Health Services Kashmir is being blamed for unwanted and unnecessary delegation of powers to Chief Medical Officers usually exercised by a Central Purchases Committer set up at the Directorate of Health Service Kashmir, the investigation announced by the Government could be a way to seek explanations from the Director Health Services Kashmir for unauthorised delegation of powers to Chief Medical Officers of Kashmir Division and then even to Block Medical Officers down at the bottom. Surprisingly not only has the Director Health Services Kashmir delegated powers of procurement to Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) but the Chief Medical Officer Anantnag has also delegated powers of procurement to Block Medical Officer Saller and this apparently shows that a nexus had developed in the department in making procurement for annual amarnath yatra last year. A chain of violations from the Director Health Services Kashmir to Block Medical Officers down at the bottom over the sensitive issue of procurements for Amarnath Yatra necessitates not only an inhouse inquiry by the Managing Director J&K Medical Supplies Corporation but an independent investigation by an independent investigative agency like Jammu & Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (J&K ACB).
“Morality demands that once the allegations are established by the in-house inquiry committee led by Managing Director J&K Medical Supplies Corporation, the matter concerning violation of guidelines for procurement of annual amarnath yatra deserves a thorough and independent probe by an independent investigative agency like J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau (J&K ACB). For the purposes of transparency and accountability it would be better for the Government to withdraw the powers of procurement from Director Health Services Kashmir and hand it over to any one else than Director Health Services Kashmir till the guilty are identified and punished”.
Experiences of the past have proved it time and again that inhouse inquiries are not as transparent as are the investigations of independent investigative agencies like J&K Anti-Corruption (J&K ACB) due to certain considerations that develop within the department in case of inquiries into financial and administrative irregularities. What matters the most is the fact that trends of institutional and administrative violations always flow from top to bottom and experiences have shown that officials at the lowest levels commit wrongs or undo the wrongs with the clout and blessings of their superiors only. Inquiry not for the sake of inquiry but investigation for the purposes of identifying and punishing the guilty is the basic bench mark of accountability and institutional transparency the strict adherence to which is the only way to live up to the commitment of zero tolerance against corruption. Morality demands that once the allegations are established by the in-house inquiry committee led by Managing Director J&K Medical Supplies Corporation, the matter concerning violation of guidelines for procurement of annual amarnath yatra deserves a thorough and independent probe by an independent investigative agency like J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau (J&K ACB). For the purposes of transparency and accountability it would be better for the Government to withdraw the powers of procurement from Director Health Services Kashmir and hand it over to anyone else than Director Health Services Kashmir till the guilty are identified and punished.
