Officer goes scot-free after gulping pay, perks & privileges for two years overstay in service!
Rattan Singh Gill
Jammu Tawi, March 2021: The Jammu and Kashmir Administration has retired a senior secretary level officer in the Law Department who had fudged his date of birth and overstayed in the government job for two years.
Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Ganai, Special Secretary (Legal) in the Home Department of J&K government has been retired after it was found he had fudged his original date of birth 03.03.1959.
As per the original date of birth, Ganai should have retired in March 2019.
Acting on a complaint by a local citizen, the Home Department initiated an exercise to ascertain the veracity of the facts as raised in the complaint. The Reports submitted by the J&K Board of School Education Kashmir Division, Chief Education Officer Budgam via Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and Police Verification established beyond doubt that the date of birth of Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Ganai was 03.03.1959.
The J&K Home department found that Ganai had fudged his date of birth and tempered with the records in a manner that would have enabled him to prolong his service in the government and that he continued in the services till the date of his much delayed retirement.
The matter with the verification reports was submitted to the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, who ordered the retirement of Ganai from the retrospective date i.e. 31.3.2019 and recovering the salary and illegitimate monetary benefits for Ganai’s superannuation benefits for the overstayed period from 31.3.2019 onward.
The Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Department of J&K Government while issued the government order o. 1103-JK(LD) dated 05.03.2021 of retiring Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Ganai, Special Secretary from March 2019, however, allowed the Ganai to go scot-free without initiating or suggesting any criminal action against his acts of forgery.
The Law department’s letter signed by Secretary, Law, Achal Sethi says, ‘the salary and other illegitimate monetary benefits received by the officer beyond 31.3.2019 i.e the period of his unauthorised overstay in service shall be recovered from the pensionary benefits of the retired officer.’ The order is silent about fixing any criminal liability of the officer and what action is proposed against the fraudster. Surprisingly, the Secretary, Law department who often has to advise the Government on legal issues and interpretation has used the term ‘unauthorised overstay in service’ in place of Ganai’s illegal and manipulative overstay in service for which no cognizance has been taken for the reasons best known to the government
Interestingly, in the Law department of J&K, the candidates mostly law graduates entered the Government service as Legal Remembrance and rise to head the department at the level of Secretary to Government.
Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Ganai too had entered the Law Department from the lower ladder had held many key positions in other departments on a deputation basis to fulfil special assignments/missions of his political bosses and senior bureaucrats. He also served as Secretary of J&K Social Welfare Board where he was instrumental in making many backdoor appointments of kith and kins of politicians and senior officers. When a controversy was raised, a senior officer in GAD who later served with the Chief Secretary also, came to his rescue.
This is not the first case of tempering date of birth by the top officials in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state which is notorious for such back-door appointments in government jobs, ineligible postings of officers, tempering of official records. In September 2018, a Commissioner/Secretary rank officer MD Khan was retired from the job when it was detected that he had forged his date of Birth and also tempered with his service book. He was later arrested also. In 2011, an Inspector General of Police, Farooq Ahmad was stripped of his job for the similar charges of forging the Date of Birth in records.
