By IANS
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad restored the forest and environment portfolio to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Qazi Mohammad Afzal, three months after he was stripped of the portfolio.
Azad had divested Afzal of the portfolio in September, claiming he had done so at the behest of the minister to “clear the mess”. But Afzal later resigned in protest and disputed the claim of the chief minister.
On Friday night, the chief minister announced restoration of the forest portfolio to Afzal, without mentioning what was the outcome of the probe he had ordered into the alleged bungling in the department.
In fact the inquiry report conducted by a senior bureaucrat, B.R. Kundal, now chief secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir government, was to be tabled in the Friday cabinet meeting.
“But there was no mention of it,” a cabinet minister said on condition of anonymity.
Afzal later said that his stand has been vindicated and that there was nothing wrong in the functioning of the forest department. “I am resuming my duties as the minister at the behest of my party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who asked me to get back to work in the interests of the people.”
Meanwhile, the housing and urban development department has been allocated to Tariq Hameed Karra.