The Hindu : One more extension for J&K Chief Secretary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2002

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National

One more extension for J&K Chief Secretary
By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, FEB. 19. The Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, Ashok Jaitly, will continue in the job for three more months. In the normal course, Mr. Jaitly, an IAS officer of the 1964 batch, should have retired on January 31 after completing 60 years of age. But the Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, was rather insistent that Mr. Jaitly should continue, and the compromise now is that he would get another three months.

There is a provision in the All-India Service rules that an officer can be retained for three more months even after reaching the age of superannuation in case he/she is involved in some crucial on-going exercise like ``budget-making''. Mr. Jaitly is deemed to be involved in the Jammu and Kashmir budget.

The extension is cited by many as yet another instance of the Centre caving in to Dr. Abdullah's ``reasonable as well as unreasonable'' demands. To begin with Dr. Abdullah wanted Mr. Jaitly to continue indefinitely, even though the rules do not permit any officer to continue after the age of superannuation. The apprehension was that if a Chief Minister was allowed to retain his favourite officer as the Chief Secretary, it would be difficult to resist similar demands from other Chief Ministers.

Dr. Abdullah, according to Kashmir observers, feels most comfortable and secure with Mr. Jaitly as the Chief Secretary. It is a relationship of trust between the two that has stood the test of time. With him at his side, the Chief Minister feels confident that he has been able to withstand ``machinations from Delhi''. The Centre, especially the Prime Minister, is not prepared to add to the Chief Minister's sense of insecurity.

On the other hand, many senior officials believe that unless the Abdullah-Jaitly team is delinked there can be no hope for any kind of meaningful governance in Jammu and Kashmir. These officials believe that without a modicum of good governance, the fight against terrorism stands diluted.

Many a time the Centre has tried to post the official out, but each time the Chief Minister has stalled the change; even a promise of a foreign posting for Mr. Jaitly was spurned. Similarly, Dr. Abdullah has had his way in the choice of the Director-General of Police.

A few days ago, Dr. Abdullah was told categorically that Mr. Jaitly could not continue. The Chief Minister was told that he was free to employ him as Principal Secretary or Chief Adviser at whatever salary and whatever perks, but he could not have him continue as Chief Secretary. But now mercifully some obscure rule has been dusted out to accommodate the Chief Minister, once again.

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