Jammu: All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) Friday criticized what it termed the “elite mindset” of bureaucracy in J&K for “undermining the democratic norms” in the union territory.
The AJKPC raised concerns regarding the “deliberate omission” of photos of the incumbent Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and other ministers from the official websites of the Jammu and Kashmir government.
AJKPC alleged that this practice of not hosting and displaying the photo of the Chief Minister and concerned ministers on the official websites appears to be “intentional and done with a purpose to satisfy the ego of the elite bureaucracy”.
This practice signifies a deviation from conventional government protocol, which often includes the display of images of elected representatives including CM, DyCM and concerned ministers on official websites of the departments.
Anil Sharma, AJKPC president a media interaction informed that in an online survey conducted by the volunteers of the organization of dozens of official websites of the J&K government, it has been found that in many websites only the photo of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha is displayed along with the photo of the administrative secretary or head of the department.
Giving an example of the lapse, AJKPC president informed that all the official district websites host only the photo of the Lieutenant Governor and the concerned District Magistrate; there is no display of image of the Chief Minister in any district website.
The Panchayat leader said that the district website does not belong to DCs or DMs but it belongs to the district where they are posted, the officers must respect the people’s mandate.
Sharma also informed that though the official website of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, hosts the photo of the LG and CM, but the official website of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir hosts only the photos of LG, Chief Secretary and the Divisional Commissioner; the photo of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is missing on this website.
“The officers in J&K are so obsessed with self-ego that they even don’t undermine to bypass democratic norms,” Sharma alleged. “Why do they wish to display their own photos on official websites and even in government advertisements?” Sharma questioned, while condemning this “attitude of the bureaucracy”.
Sharma urged the LG Manoj Sinha to intervene in the matter and issue necessary directions to the concerned to rectify this lacuna. He also asked the in-charge of J&K Chapter of NIC (National Informatics Centre) to look into the matter.
