Govt. orders inquiry; seeks report in 7 days
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Mar 15: A contractual employee proclaiming himself as an Administrative Officer (AO) has been accused of several ‘wrongdoings’ in connivance with several other officials of the Rural Development Department.
Well placed sources revealed to Kashmir Despatch that the Government has ordered an inquiry into the complaints received against him and some other officers of the Rural Development Department.
According to the Government Order No. 48-RD&PR of 2022 dated 11-03-2022, the District Panchayat Officer (Publicity), Directorate of Rural Development, Jammu has been appointed as the Inquiry Officer to conduct an inquiry into the matter. The inquiry officer shall look into more than a dozen formal complaints against Mithas Ahmad Dar (a contractual employee) and other Officers/Officials of the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), J&K State Level Nodal Agency (JKSLNA), under the Rural Development Department.
The inquiry officer has been asked to conclude the inquiry and submit the report along with specific recommendations to the department within seven days positively for necessary administrative action under rules, sources told Kashmir Despatch.
According to a senior RDD official, Mithas Ahmad Dar, a contractual employee of the department has been working as a self-proclaimed Administrative Officer at JKSLNA for Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), Department of Rural Development. He along with other officials of the department have been accused of misusing their positions and deceiving the public. The department has preferred not to reveal the contents of the complaints received so far, till the inquiry is concluded formally.
According to the official, Mithas has been promoting himself not only as an Administrative Officer at IWMP-JKSLNA but has been sharing his ‘contribution’ on the social media forum Linkedin as ‘SL Technical Expert cum Coordinator at Rural Development Department, Civil Secretariat, Jammu and Srinagar’ to give an impression that he is holding a special designated government rank, which would make easy for him to operate.
“I don’t have a very good experience of such departmental inquiries in view of the non-serious approach of the inquiry officers generally. However, the inquiry officer for this committee is an upright official, so the complainant must expect a fair investigation in this case,” an RDD official told Kashmir Despatch, wishing anonymity.
