Sajad Lone welcomes re-examining of SAC decision on J&K Bank

Welcoming the government's announcement to re-examine the issue of accountability of J&K Bank to state legislature, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone Tuesday said the institution must remain "totally autonomous".

Lone said government influence and control over the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Bank were against the very spirit of entrepreneurship.

The State Administrative Council (SAC) under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik had on November 23 approved the proposal for treating the J&K Bank Limited as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), thus bringing it under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) act, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) guidelines and the State Legislature.

Less than a fortnight after approving the proposal, the Governor agreed to rethink the decision after meeting a delegation of the bank employees on Tuesday.

"The premier bank has to be made free from any government encumbrances. In the context of Jammu and Kashmir, J&K Bank is literally the sole lender to the private sector," Lone said in a statement.

Lone said if the government had disproportionate influence over the bank, the political government of the day will get to decide who to lend to and who not to lend to.

"That virtually puts the private sector at the mercy of the political establishment. And this has suited the two dynasties which have made the J&K Bank the field of a selected elite," he said.

"If there are any misgivings about recruitment, it is the two dynasties which have done it. So all the better to free it from political control," added Lone.