The district magistrate, Rajouri, Mohammad AijazAsad, on Friday suspended Tehsildar Nowshera, Qadeer-ul-Rehman, for “unauthorized absence from an urgent law and order situation, without any prior information.”
“The matter of his absence from duty came to fore during a law and order problem that erupted in Nowshera town on Thursday,” the official press statement released by the district administration read.
“On Wednesday, one Bodh Raj, resident of Deeing, lost his life along Line of Control, where he was deployed as an army porter and got killed when reportedly a militancy related incident took place. On Thursday, after post mortem examination of the body of deceased, his family members and relatives kept the body on Nowshera bus stand road and blocked it for traffic and started a protest, demanding compensation and other possible aid to the victim’s family,” the press statement read.
“Soon after the information of protest was received by district administration through police and other intelligence agencies, multiple calls were made from Rajouri deputy commissioner’s office to tehsildarNowshera, to get a briefing about the situation and to pacify the protest. He was also called from personal contact number of the district magistrate thrice, but failed to respond and didn’t even call back,” it adds.
“Despite repeated calls by the district administration, as well as from other senior officers of administration, tehsildarNowshera gave no response and then it came to fore that the officer had left the station without taking permission from the competent authority and due to his absence district administration faced tough time in handling the situation. Public calls received from the spot revealed that officer was not present there,” the administration said.
Sensing trouble due to protest, district administration rushed tehsildarQilaDarhal to the spot, who performed the magisterial duties and got the protest pacified by negotiating for several hours, the administration further said.
“Alongwith this, additional deputy commissioner Nowshera also informed the district administration that tehsildarNowshera was not even present on duty during postmortem examination of the body of the deceased,” the administration said.
Taking note of gross official misconduct and behavior, unbecoming of a public servant on part of tehsildarNowshera, district magistrate Rajouri has placed him under suspension with immediate effect and attached him in the office of assistant commissioner revenue Rajouri.
TehsildarQilaDarhal shall look after the charge of tehsildarNowshera, till further orders.