Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti has said the anti-corruption claims by the state government are patently phoney in view of its track-record of protecting the corrupt and systematically disempowering the institutions of transparency, meant to bring about probity in the public life.Addressing a public meeting at Thanamandi in Rajouri constituency, she said corruption has in the state received patronage from the highest political authority, which is obvious from the death of Haji Yousuf in highly dubious circumstances and refusal of the govt to even investigate it.The senior party leaders Yashpal Shrama, Chaudary Zulfkar Ali, Barat Bushan Gupta, Abdul Qayoom Dar, Abdul Hamid Manhas, local leaders Shahzad Khan, Chaudary Qamar Din Hussain, Asad Bari Shah, Shah Mohammad Tantray, Ehsan Mirza, Ashok Sharma, Vimal Shama, Anjum Mirza, Shil Lone, Tazeem Dar, Majeed Shah, Shaida Akhtar , Sohan Singh Sohni and Master Prem Chand, were also present and spoke on the occasion.
Mehbooba said the government is resorting to patent lies by claiming that it had brought in either the State Accountability Commission (SAC) or the Right to Information Act. The accountability body was established in 2003, as one of the first acts by the then government under a supreme court judge, while Jammu &Kashmir enacted RTI as a law in 2004, when even the Govt of India was still to do it, she said.
Mehbooba said there are enough institutions and laws to tackle white collar crime, but it is the lack of political will and direction in the present govt that has resulted in making corruption and bribery a norm rather than an exception.The present govt has made the SAC and State Information Commission (SIC) virtually dysfunctional, by denying them the staff assistance. The Chief Minister himself went against the SAC’s jurisdiction over his appointment of advisors, she said and added “if there was any legal infirmity in the law, the Chief Minister should have come to the legislature to rectify it, rather than use it for saving his skin.”
She said Omar Abdullah by this act brought the functioning of SAC to a grinding halt, with the result it has not been able to proceed on any complaints against the ministers and ruling politicians.She said the Haji Yousuf episode did not cost only a life which remains unaccounted, but it heavily dented the prestige and moral authority of the Chief Minister, who should have been seen above board in order to enforce probity on his colleagues and administration.She said it is a matter of record that a minister, whose foster son was caught indulging in malpractices in his examination, questioned Chief Minister’s moral authority to call for his resignation.The result is that the Chief Minister continues to survive with the taints of Haji Yousuf’s blood that he reportedly vomited while coming out of his (CM’s) residence, after a meeting involving slush money collected for dispensing mandates and political positions.On the other hand all the ministers, who came into notice for their corrupt practices like promoting interests of their relations, grabbing state land, owning palatial houses in and outside the state even abroad, fake drug scam, PHE scam etc. , continue to be in office, said Mehbooba.She added that these ministers, as a consequence of the immunity against law, are now running their departments as independent empires rather than behaving as ministers, accountable for their actions.
Mehbooba said the disregard for law in case of the high and mighty became obvious in the Cricket scam, as well, in which the Union Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, as president of the state Cricket Association, was accused of having drawn cheques from unauthorised accounts, money that was straight away stolen as was established by the documentary available in public domain."While everybody in the world is in know of the incontrovertible evidence against Dr Abdullah, only the police doesn't see it because it is controlled by his son" said Mehbooba. She said people who should have been in jail elsewhere in the country like A Raja and Kalmadi, in J&K they are running the government and sermonizing against corruption.The PDP president said the claim that people have been empowered to fight corruption is not misleading but sinister, as well. The present govt has enacted rules in a manner that a private person has first to prove a case against a guilty person and only then the Accountability Commission can take note of that.“Is it the private people who have to investigate the cases and find evidence?” she asked.
The established procedure is that a mere complaint has to be investigated by police, vigilance or any other authorised agency, the hands of all of whom have been tied by the present government. That has resulted in a free for all situation in the state, where everything from state subject certificates, government jobs to the admission to professional courses, is on sale.Mehbooba said the worst form of corruption by present govt exists in the shape of an army of retired persons inflicted on administration. Most of them are being paid heavy salaries and perks just because they are conduits for earning money for their bosses, who have favoured them with plum positions.The exposure of scams like BOPEE, which was enacted through a retired person, Mushtaq Peer, was possible through an RTI application and media expose, while the govt tried to save him for one-and-a-half year.“But the basic question is , who appointed him repeatedly even in the face of bad reputation, he had earned in Kashmir University and why was he picked up for such sensitive jobs, where he could virtually play with the lives of young meritorious students. How is the govt going to compensate the victims of its decisions, even if one believes that Mushtaq Peer and his accomplices are ever punished,” asked Mehbooba.