SrinagarThe ruling PDP has come under a barrage of criticism after the recent appointment of the son of its vice-president as an executive officer in the J and K Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB).
Syed Aroot Madni, the son of Sartaj Madni, features in the latest selection list of the Board, while the nephew of PDP general secretary and KVIB vice-chairman Peerzada Mansoor Hussain has been placed in the waiting list for the post of assistant executive officer.
The PDP has termed the selection as fair, and Sartaj Madni himself has questioned whether or not the sons of politicians deserved a chance to seek employment and livelihood.
But the opposition National Conference has hit out at the PDP describing the selection as institutionalization of corruption, while netizens have termed the appointment as fraudulent and sought an explanation from the ruling coalition partner.
Amid severe castigation on social networking sites, top bureaucrat Shah Faesal said that the case warranted a police case if allegations of malpractices in the selection process were true.
If its true that the merit list has been rigged, Faesal, who is the managing director of the J and K Power Development Corporation, wrote on facebook, then instead of an inquiry there should be an FIR. High time that we take those people to task who push our educated youngsters to the wall and kill their confidence.
According to his Facebook profile, Aroot is the youth president of the PDP for the Divsar assembly constituency from where his father had lost elections in 2014.
The National Conference lashed out at the Chief Minister, saying the PDPs tall rhetoric has fallen flat on its face and this selection list is another proof of PDPs insidious and nepotistic style of politics.
Most of the people figuring in the list are either children of close associates of PDP leaders or have direct patronage from the powers that be. The chief minister is directly culpable for this open loot and plunder she has authorised in the state. The state institutions have been ravaged by the PDP and corruption has been institutionalized by the chief minister and her family members, Junaid Azim Mattu, the National Conferences state spokesperson, said.
He demanded an immediate probe into the entire selection process. Is this why the state government has placed its leaders as VCs of these boards so that they could adjust their children in these institutions? What is the message you are sending out to our youth? he asked.
Sartaj Madni Defends
But Sartaj Madni, maternal uncle of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, defended his sons selection saying children of political workers too had a right to exist with dignity. If they believe our children dont have the right to live with dignity, and even raise questions on genuine ways of politicians children getting jobs then all the children of political workers should be brought to Lal Chowk and hanged, Madni told a Srinagar-based news agency.
Exam Was Outsourced For Transparency
The KVIB vice-chairman Mansoor Hussain said the entire selection process was fairest one in the history of KVIB.
He said the Board had no role in the selection process. The state law secretary Abdul Majid Bhat was appointed as controller examination for conduct of written test, he said.
He (the law secretary) outsourced the examination to an outside agency to ensure transparency, Hussain said.
That one candidate selected is the son of Sartaj Madni, why is there all this hue and cry. Dont politicians and their sons have the right to live? he asked.
What about the others selected? They are all from poor backgrounds. If there would have been anything (untoward) then my nephew would have also been in the list.
Netizens, however, questioned handing the selection process over to an outside agency.
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