Kashmir Life: Srinagar: Sunday, April 29, 2018.
Jammu and
Kashmir RTI Movement have demanded that CVs of all the recently appointed NREGA
Ombudsmen should be made public so that people know what is the background of
these transparency officers who were appointed by Rural Development Department
recently.
The spokesman
in a statement said taht the executive committee of RTI Movement which met in
Srinagar on Friday took a strong notice of these appointments as the
transparent process was followed which violates the provisions of National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
“As per the
guidelines provided by Ministry of Rural Development Government of India, the
selection of Ombudsman shall be made from among persons of eminent standing and
impeccable integrity with at least twenty years of experience in public
administration, law, academics, social work or management. No person who is a member of a political
party shall be considered for appointment as Ombudsman. The persons selected as
Ombudsman must be physically active and capable of conducting field tours,
inspections and visits to remote rural locations in the districts. The
guidelines further say that the Ombudsman shall be appointed for a tenure of 2
years extendable by one year based on performance appraisal or till the
incumbent attains the age of 65 years or whichever is earlier. There shall be
no reappointment. Performance appraisal
shall be made by the Selection Committee headed by Chief Secretary of state. As
for as appointment of 11 NREGA Ombudsmen is concerned people are not aware how
these appointments were made? It would have been advisable if Rural Development
Department would have made their CV’s public so that people would know what
kind of work they have done in past for public good. Except for G R Ghani
Retired IAS officer NGEGA Ombudsman for Budgam / Srinagar, nothing is clear
about ten other Ombudsmen. In-fact section 4 of J&K RTI Act 2009 impresses
upon the Government to make all the details public while making any appointments
to various boards and councils. It would have been advisable that CVs of all
the appointees should have been made public along with the order that was
issued Vide Government Order No: 89-RD &PR of 2018 Dated: 10.04.2018,” said
Raja Muzaffar Bhat Founder / Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement.
“Vide
Government Order No: 89-RD &PR of 2018 Dated: 10.04.2018 Government
appointed 11 Ombudsmen to look after NREGA related complaints in 22 districts
of J&K. Each Ombudsman will take care of two districts,” the statement
reads.
“The
Ombudsmen are sort of vigilance and accountability officers at the district
level, but if a transparent process is not evolved in their appointment what is
the fun of having such people? How can they expose corrupt practices committed
by BDOs VLWs etc at block or halqa? NREGA guidelines fix the upper age limit
for appointment of Ombudsmen as 65
years, but as per the order issued by Rural Development Department on April
10th, the upper age limit has been enhanced by 3 more years (68 years). How is
it possible that Ombudsmen who are more than 65 years of age be physically
active and capable of conducting field tours, inspections and visits in remote
rural locations of J&K? Being Physically healthy is the basic criteria for
the appointment but enhancing age by 3 more years violates the basic guidelines
of NREGA” RTI Movement statement further reads.