Mehbooba Mufti hits out at JK chief secretary over 'backdoor appointments' remark

Jammu: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday criticised the Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary over his statement that "undeserving candidates were given government jobs in J&K through illegal and backdoor means", and said if this is true the administration should get it probed.

"I feel he (the chief secretary) should be ashamed of saying this. If this is true, let him take action. They talk high and do less. They cannot give jobs to educated unemployed youth but instead remove people from jobs," Mufti told reporters, reacting to Arun Kumar Mehta's remark made on Thursday.

Speaking at an event in north Kashmir's Kupwara on Thursday, the chief secretary had said, "I feel ashamed to say that over 2.50 lakh undeserving candidates were given government jobs in J&K through illegal and backdoor means." Now government jobs are only being given to deserving candidates, he had said.

Mufti called upon the chief secretary to publicly disclose the individuals responsible for such appointments and conduct a probe.

"If such a thing is there, he should reveal who has done this. Officers are involved in the backdoor appointments. The ED, CBI and NIA are with them. Let them take action against those responsible for it," she said.

Mufti raised questions about the recruitment processes under the tenure of current administration, particularly on positions such as sub-inspectors, junior engineers, and personnel in the finance department.

She alleged certain blacklisted companies were involved in recruitment exercise. "The chief secretary should reply to our questions first. The recruitment of SI, JEs or Jan Shakti or finance departments took place during their tenure. They appointed blacklisted companies for recruitment and caused harm to the future of the youth. They are facing courts now," she said.

The PDP chief pointed to allegations of Ashok Parmer, an IAS officer in the Jal Shakti department, who claimed a staggering Rs 13,000 crore "scam" in the department. She insisted the Chief Secretary address these accusations directly.

Such issues are eroding the trust of the people and exacerbating the plight of the educated, unemployed, she said.

"Let him (chief secretary) talk about that (allegations of scams and irregularities). This government is deep in corruption from top to bottom", She said.