The State Vigilance Organization has finally woken up from its deep slumber and registered two cases against Nagendra Sharma, former Vice-Chancellor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, Jammu and others for effecting purchase of Swaged Steel Tubular (SST) poles on exorbitant rates without observing necessary codal formalities and without any specific allocation of funds. This in turn led to a substantial loss to public exchequer. When Greater Kashmir reported the misdeeds of the said ‘imported’ agriculture scientist it was taken as a ‘piece of propaganda’ against a ‘nationalist’. Today when the man is gone, the Vigilance Organisation’s Jammu branch has, God knows how come realized its folly of turning blind eye to the brazen loot of the state exchequer by a pampered Babu from Bihar who then enjoyed the total patronage of the then Governor and a so called nationalist political party. Had the Vigilance Organization risen to the occasion, it could have at least prevented the accused from allegedly transferring truckloads of university assets to his home which had come all the way from Bihar. That was the time when the culprit could have been caught red-handed. The Swadeshi Babu allegedly in tandem with some of his henchmen in SKUAST-Jammu indulged in unprecedented loot and plunder. Most of the recruitments made during Nagendera Sharma’s period are alleged to have been made in consideration of huge sums of money. In fact it was then the talk of town that each post from that of a petty clerk to that of a director or professor carried a price tag and who-so-ever was ready to pay the price got it. And all such recruitments were made after compromising merit and suitability. The then state government miserably failed to take note of the serious allegations brought against the man in the driver’s seat in SKUAST-J and shut its eyes to the happenings in the said university. It did not give even a hoot to the newspaper reports about the scale of corruption in the university. Yes, a commission of inquiry was appointed under the chairmanship of S L Bhat but the committee didn’t act timely. If reports are to be believed the committee filed its findings only when the present incumbent holding the gubernatorial office in the state put his foot down and asked for accelerated submission of the report. The inordinate delay in compiling and submitting the report is surely going to be beneficial to the accused and may not yield the desired results as such delay could have helped the accused in destroying or at least playing with the evidence. Had the committee done its job in time, ends of justice could have been met in time. Moreover the committee did not reportedly cross examine or lay hands on the university officers like Chairman Library committee, Chairman Standing Works Committee or Chairman Central Purchase Committee which are statutory committees and the accused VC could not have done anything without the active connivance of the Chairmen of such committees. It was alleged that 6000 books purported to have been purchased for the university’s central library at Chattha, Jammu for which huge sums were paid to the suppliers, were never ever supplied. The scandal came to light when some inquest found the books missing from the library. But apparently no case has been registered even after surfacing of the scandal. The second case registered pertains to illegal appointments made in SKUAST-Jammu over a period of time without available vacancies and in gross violation of the norms. The cases need thorough investigations so that the crimes committed by the Babus are brought to light not for the sake of it but they are brought to book and punished for their white-collared crimes against the people of this poor state. The Vigilance Organization has acted only after the committee has come up with a report. Had it acted of its own, the situation would have been entirely different. Even police could have taken note of the offences. But every institution entrusted with the job of crime prevention failed the state and its people. With the lackadaisical approach adopted by the people in power and the Vigilance Organization in particular, it’s now too late to mend. Now that cases stand registered people would like the investigating agency to do its job fearlessly and objectively to take it to its logical end.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 IST