Srinagar, May 20: With some key positions in Horticulture Department lying vacant for some years, the marketing of horticulture products being looked after by the department in and outside the state has been badly affected.
 Sources said the department is without joint director and deputy directors Kashmir and Jammu.
 The position of joint director, according to sources, became vacant due to retirement of former joint director Horticulture Department, M S Teli on January 31, 2012.
 Curiously, earlier the position of deputy director Kashmir had become available due to promotion of Teli as joint director in December 2011 and the position of deputy director Jammu had fallen vacant on the retirement of Z A Jan in Feb 2012.
 Besides, positions of Area Marketing Officers and Assistant Directors both in and outside the state are lying vacant for the past two years in different fruit mandis.
 Sources said the work in the department has badly affected as the government has not provided officers to man these positions.
 According to sources, the posts of Area Marketing Officers and Assistant Directors are vacant in Lucknow, Patna, Bhopal, Amritsar, Jaipur, Bangalore, Chennai and Pulwama.
 There are no officers to man the positions of Assistant Director Planning, Assistant Director Marketing and Assistant Director Transport.
 Sources said the last Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) was held in 1987. “During the past 25 years no DPC has been convened, with the result the seniority list is not being issued,” they said.
 Officials in the department said there are clear-cut orders from General Administration Department (GAD) that every department should update seniority list of its officers/officials in month of January every year.  
 “We have time and again expressed our concern and raised the issue with different quarters including the minister concerned. But so far no action has been taken,” they said, adding that they have been “deprived” of their right to promotion.
 “It is injustice, we are working on the same post for many years now, while our counterparts in other departments have been elevated to higher posts,” the official said.
 The fruit dealers/growers also express their concern over leaving the key positions in the department unfilled.
 “The non-availability of some key officers in the department is not good for the horticulture sector,” they said.
 Repeated attempts to contact Minister for Horticulture, Sham Lal Sharma for his comment proved futile.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 IST