Srinagar: This is how Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand pitch forked a school dropout and helped him worm his way through the official ladders till he became Managing Director of J&K Housing Board. The post is equivalent to the position of a chief engineer.
Ram Pal Sharma, who was engaged as a junior assistant/typist in J&K Housing Board in 1981 soon after he dropped out of school after just passing his class 10 exam, is now MD of the Board. Sharma owes his meteoric rise to his affinity with Tara Chand , Congress leader and the state’s deputy chief minister, who heads the Housing Board.
The government had issued an order in 2011 that the rank of the Managing Director of the J&K Housing Board was equivalent to that of Chief Engineer. Before R P Sharma, the post has always been held by a technical person of the level of Chief Engineer or equivalent, because the department has been established particularly for construction works in Jammu and Kashmir.
Official documents reveal that RP Sharma was engaged by the department as a Junior assistant/typist vide order number HB/Estt/8/81/377-78, dated 01-05-1981 for the period of one month.
From a typist to the Managing Director, the rise of R P Sharma in the J&K Housing Board has been fantastic. According to official documents, Sharma served as Junior assistant/typist in the Housing Board for a period of one year, seven months and 22 days in 1981-82. He was promoted as Junior Stenographer on 24-12-1982 in 1150-2050 grade.
On 17-01-1991, R P Sharma was again promoted as senior scale stenographer in 2000-3200 grade. On 10-07-1999 Sharma was again promoted as Liaison Officer in 7500-12000 grade. As if these benefits were not enough, in 2007, an unprecedented change was effected in the hierarchy of the J&K Housing Board, by virtue of which the post of Deputy Secretary was created only to accommodate RP Sharma. He was later elevated to the rank of Secretary.
However the order issued by the M D at that time, promoting RP Sharma as Secretary faced strong objections from the Board of Directors in the 40th Board Meeting of the J&K Housing Board. The other Board members were all senior IAS officers. In the meeting held on 21 May 2010 they openly criticized the promotion of R P Sharma to the rank of Secretary, embarrassing Deputy CM Tara Chand, who was chairing the meeting.
The Board of Directors, including the then Commissioner Secretary, strongly said that RP Sharma was not qualified for the gazetted post of Secretary, which has been always held by a KAS Officer. Sources said that senior Board members even directed RP Sharma to leave the meeting venue.
Subsequently, an order was issued on 22 May 2010, withdrawing and revoking the illegal promotion of R P Sharma . But Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand intervened and ensured that Sharma was promoted to Secretarys rank. On 10 April 2012 R P Sharma was promoted as Secretary of the Board, setting aside the objections of the Board of Directors.
Even after this widely resented promotion, the fantastic rise of R P Sharma continued relentlessly. On 04 Sep 2013, the J&K Cabinet vide decision No. 196/25/2013 ordered the transfer of Kiran Wattal, the then Managing Director of J&K Housing Board, to Jammu Municipal Corporation as Commissioner. In a seemingly simple move, the additional charge of Managing Director of the Housing Board was assigned to Ram Pal Sharma “till further orders.”
One year down the lane, Ram Pal, a simple matriculate, is still holding the charge of the Managing Director of J&K Housing Board, courtesy the Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand. According to highly-placed sources, the Deputy CM has been flouting all norms for his blue-eyed boy, Ram Pal Sharma.
Sources revealed that many officials senior to RP Sharma have not been so lucky to have leaping promotions. Many officials have retired with just one or two promotions. Puran Chand Sharma, a graduate and Jai Kishan Bhat, a B.Sc, DBM, both senior in service to RP Sharma, retired as Section Officers before 2010. Anjana Gupta, also senior in service to RP Sharma, retired as Head Clerk.
RP Sharma got his first major appointment as Liaison Officer of the Housing Board, and was later was promoted as Deputy Secretary in 2004, by superseding many officers senior to him. The documents show the Deputy Chief Minister approved R P Sharmas promotion as Secretary in the grade of 15600-39100 with pay band of Rs 7600 on 14 May 2010. This order had led to much heartburn in the Housing Board.
The approval letter said that R P Sharma would take the charge of Secretary on the transfer of the then Secretary Fayaz Ahmad Bala, a KAS Officer.
In order to ensure that there was no hurdle in the way of R P Sharma, a letter was shot off the next day to the Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department by the MD of the Housing Board, asking GAD not to depute any officer as Secretary to J&K Housing Board, and to depute only Deputy Secretary in future. The rest, as they say, is history. (Current News Service)
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