By IANS
Jammu : Under fire from opposition for restoring Qazi Mohammad Afzal as forest minister, the Jammu and Kashmir government has come out with the findings of a probe commission accusing two officials of irregularities in the department.
The officials have been suspended after the report was released Sunday and criminal proceedings have been initiated against them.
Afzal was given back the forest portfolio Friday, nearly after three months he was stripped of the post. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi 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.
As per the recommendations of the report, two senior officials – former managing director of the State Forest Corporation Ejaz Ahmad Bhat, and general manager Ghulam Hassan Marzai – are to be removed from the government service.
The 98-page Kundal report has brought out several acts of omissions, commissions and gross irregularities by the officials.
“Government has accepted the inquiry report regarding the irregularities in State Forest Corporation and allied wings of Forest Department submitted by B.R. Kundal, the then Financial Commissioner Home,” said a state government spokesperson. Kundal is currently chief secretary of the state.
“The general manager had been retired prematurely from the service but had managed to come back on the basis of court orders. The inquiry officer has recommended his removal from the service,” the spokesperson said.
Azad immediately ordered Marzai’s suspension and the criminal proceedings against him have already been initiated, he added.
The inquiry report has also indicated that the former managing director had dual citizenship – of India and the US – used four different names and two passports and had given six addresses. The managing director was already placed under suspension in October this year.
The report has also made a case against the official for cheating, forgery and misleading the government.