Government orders premature retirement of 03 officials of Prison Department

JAMMU, January 31: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday ordered premature retirement of 03 officials of Prison Department for their involvement in corruption, underperformance and anti-social activities.

In its endeavor to make the Administration more efficient and transparent, the government prematurely retired 03 personnel of Prison Department on charges of their involvement in corruption and criminal activities.

These personnel conducted their duties in ways which were unbecoming of public servants and in violation of the established code of conduct.

The exercise was conducted as part of regular process of scrutiny of records of officials, who cross benchmarks of age/service period in terms of Article 226(2) of J&K CSRs.

Out of these retirees, one was found involved in a serious criminal case and remained under custody for three years, besides, the official had gained a bad public reputation. Another official was found habitual of violating official channels of communication and has been found guilty of sending fake and frivolous complaints, misusing RTI Act and wasting time of High Court for which he was also fined with Rs.10,000/-by the Court. The official was imposed Major punishment in shape of withholding of three annual increments. Further, one official was found involved in smuggling of contraband substances inside Sub-Jail Reasi.

According to the recommendations of the Review Committee, the performance of these employees was found unsatisfactory and their continuation in the government service was found against the public interest.

During the recent past, as part of its zero tolerance policy towards corruption, various employees have been dismissed from service on account of official misconduct, after rigorously following departmental proceedings against them. Many cases are under scrutiny with the Empowered Committees constituted for consideration of cases under Article 226(2) of J&K CSRs. Further, many employees have also been terminated from service on account of anti-national activities.

Meanwhile, the government has also initiated several measures for human resource development of its employees in Jammu and Kashmir which includes online Human Resource Management System (eHRMS), induction of officers into the prestigious Indian Administrative/ Police Service, timely DPCs for smooth career progression, updating recruitment rules, fast tracking the recruitment process through recruiting agencies and abolishing of interviews for most of the non-gazetted vacancies referred to the Services Selection Board.