Taking strong exception to the procedure and criterion adopted for filling up top positions in J&K Bank, president, J&K Apni Party (JKAP), Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, Saturday said there seems to be a “sinister design” to dilute J&K Bank’s functional autonomy.
In a statement issued here, Bukhari assailed a recent orderappointing a non-domicile of J&K to the post of Chief Financial Officer ofJ&K Bank. He termed the order an unprecedented move “aimed at playing withthe economic aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir”.
“I am told that the government at the helm in J&K hasclandestinely amended the recruitment rules after August 5, 2019 and created awindow for the appointment of non residents of J&K
especially to the top posts of J&K Bank,” Bukhari said, adding that it was”totally unacceptable because any such recruitment is illegal and in violationof Domicile law for J&K.”
Bukhari demanded immediate revocation of the order issued onApril 23, 2020 under which a non domicile of J&K has been appointed to atop post of the Bank.
The JKAP president said: “There seems to be a pattern toappoint and promote people to the top posts while discarding the requirementsof Domicile Law for such appointments in the J&K Bank.
“I call upon the union Home Minister to intervene into thematter and take cognizance of as to how the post of CFO was advertised andlater filled up throwing the Domicile Law to winds.”
He said it had happened for the first time that’officiating’ executive presidents in J&K Bank “have been designated andthat too without informing or seeking consent from the RBI”.
“For appointment of Executive Presidents, the government hadto go by merit including interviews and seniority but I am told that all theeligible candidates for these posts were not called for the interview. This istotally illegal,” he said, and demanded the designations of three ExecutivePresidents should now be confirmed by the RBI.
Bukhari also demanded that the JK Bank should declareresults of over 150000 aspirants who had appeared for examination for the postsof Banking Associates and Probationary Officers but are awaiting results forthe last over two years.
“Two years after a three-phase-examination process conductedin Governor S.P Malik’s tenure, which drove lakhs of qualified aspirants toexamination centres, the present dispensation is unnecessarily delaying itsresults,” Bukhari remarked.
The JKAP president opined that the J&K Bank, as a prestigiousfinancial institution had assumed tremendous significance and the people fromall regions of Jammu and Kashmir were proud of it.
But sadly an “unwarranted interference” has “limited” thefunctioning of this prestigious institution to a government treasury. “Thisillegal interference has caused immense sufferings to the people especially thefarmers, horticulturists, traders, businessmen, hoteliers, restaurateurs,houseboat owners, gold associations, transporters, manufacturers, small, mediumand big industrial units and other allied sectors of trade and commerce who arethe basic pillars of economy of Jammu and Kashmir,” Bukhari said.
Bukhari said that Jammu and Kashmir Bank is one of the mosticonic institutions “nurtured by sons of the soil, whose legend in financialmatters and contribution in its phenomenal growth was acknowledged by theformer Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and late finance minister Shri ArunJaitely at various occasions (sic)”.
“Regrettably, by the unwanted meddling, this Bank has nowadopted a bureaucratic approach which is continuing to plague its functioning.Hasty declaration of Non Performing Assets (NPAs), stopping settlement process,halting advances and above all persecution and harassment of its clients are fewconsequences of an intrusive approach of people at the helm of its affairs.This scenario needs to be changed. More so, if the present dispensation isserious in revival of shattered economy of Jammu and Kashmir,” Bukhariobserved.
Bukhari said that the RBI had also allowed the banks to gofor restructuring and rehabilitation of stress accounts to save them fromturning into non performing assets. “Unfortunately, this has also turned out tobe a half-hearted exercise by the J&K Bank. The business community is aworst hit sector in J&K, and concrete steps are required for revival ofthis sector,” he advocated.
Bukhari also emphasized on the need to run J&K Bankprofessionally and all its decisions be taken by the professionals only ratherthan the bureaucrats who “disappointingly don’t see a reason to empathize withthe suffering masses of the region”.