J-K Cong welcomes cancellation of appointments to KVIB

The Congress Monday welcomed the Jammu and Kashmir administration's decision to cancel appointments to the KVIB made by the previous PDP-BJP government in 2018 and demanded that those responsible be booked under the law.

The appointments to the Khadi Village and Industries Board (KVIB) had come under severe criticism over allegations of nepotism and were ultimately quashed after an inquiry revealed that the recruitment process was deficient and flawed.

"We welcome the decision by the governor's administration to cancel all illegal appointments of favourites in the KVIB by the previous PDP-BJP government. We demanded that all those responsible for this be booked under the law," senior state Congress leader Mula Ram said Monday.

He said that the move vindicated the opposition's charge that favouritism, nepotism and corruption prevailed in the matter of appointments under the previous government.

"It was after the hue and cry that a inquiry committee was constituted to look into these recruitments, but the report of the committee was never made public. None less than the Law secretary had called for an in-depth probe into the matter," Ram said.

Congress leaders said merely cancelling the appointments was not enough and action should be initiated against those responsible.

While Peerzada Mansoor of the PDP was the vice-chairman of the board, Chandra Prakash Ganga of the BJP was the chairman by virtue of being the then minister for Industries and Commerce.

The recruitment pursuant to advertisement notice No. KVIB/01 of 2016 dated 08.10.2016 had come under severe criticism after relatives of some political functionaries figured in the appointment list. In a damage-control move, the then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had ordered a high level inquiry into the selection process.

The cancellation order is based on the recommendations of the three-member inquiry panel headed by the then principal secretary (Home) R K Goyal.