The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday ordered cancellation of 101 appointments made in the Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) in 2016 during then PDP-BJP rule. The decision has been hailed by one and all. In fact when these recruitments were made, these were challenged by several candidates and it was insisted that the recruitment process had violated all set norms. Fingers were raised towards the ruling dispensation and accusation of favouritism and bribes were made. The surfacing of an official letter written to CID by then Law Secretary Abdul Majid Bhat, who was also controller of the KVIB recruitment exam, had also pointed to discrepancies. An inquiry committee was assigned the job to probe the allegations which has finally submitted its report. The probe committee found that selections made by KVIB in 2016 had been made by flouting set systems and procedures specified for such appointments following which the Governor’s administration took the decision of cancelling 101 such recruitments. A probe committee constituted by the government found that selections made by KVIB in 2016 had been made by flouting set systems and procedures specified for such appointments. The government, however, has said that KVIB will provide an opportunity of being heard to all candidates appointed to different category of posts pursuant to the advertisement notice dated 08.10.2016 and fulfill all formalities required under law before cancelling the appointment of these candidates.
Now that the government has taken the issue to its logical conclusion, it is responsibility of the concerned agency that those who had got jobs purely on the merit are not victimized. Furthermore, if corruption and nepotism is to be rooted out, the government need to move beyond the cancelation of recruitments and try to make those, who were at the helm of affairs, accountable. At that time PDP leader, Peerzada Mansoor Hussain headed KVIB as vice-chairman while the BJP legislator Chandra Prakash Ganga headed Industries department as minister. As per the enquiry report “the entire process suffers from various deficiencies/flaws as brought out in chapters-III, IV and V. The committee, therefore, recommends that the entire process be quashed and initiated de.novo, after following the due procedure.” If it is so, why to target only those who were recruited, why not those who approved these recruitments? Cancelling the recruitments is half on the justice and the process of justice will remain incomplete unless those who were at the helm of affairs then are taken to task. While the government decision is being appreciated by all sections of society particularly the educated unemployed youth, to send a clear message to corrupt, the government need to take legal action against those who made these recruitments.
