Omar piles too much in his plate

CM burdened with 9 portfolios

With chief minister Omar Abdullah holding charge of at least nine portfolios due to various reasons, work in major departments in the state is suffering causing immense hardships to people.

Omar presently holds charge of home, power, planning, general administration, R&B, education, hospitality protocol, estates and information portfolios.

“Notwithstanding clear-cut instructions from Supreme Court to discourage adhocism, dozens of gazetted officers, including heads of departments and secretaries, are either holding additional charge of other substantive posts or officiating on substantive positions without the government’s confirmation.  

“As some big portfolios are under Omar, he hardly gets time to look into this mess,” a senior official of general administration department told Deccan Herald on condition of anonymity.

Vacant posts

He said in school education department, 42 posts of zonal education officers were lying vacant since last few months.

“Dozens of positions of principals are also vacant, but it seems nobody is bothered to fill the vacancies ,” he added.

The chief minister has been ‘temporarily’ holding the key portfolio of R&B since G M Saroori of Congress was sacked in the wake of a row over alleged use of an impersonator for his daughter during a medical entrance examination in August, 2010.

Omar has also been holding the “additional charge” of another sensitive portfolio since he divested Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed of the portfolio of school education on February 10, 2012.

But Omar has been holding other portfolios since January, 2009 when he took over as the chief minister.

At present, there are 22 ministers, including chief minister, in the council of ministers in the state. Two ministerial berths from the Congress quota and one from the National Conference have been lying vacant since long.

The process of cabinet reshuffle and expansion has been delayed since last one-and-half years as coalition partners the NC and the Congress have failed to reach any consensus over the issue.

As per the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, the maximum strength of the council of ministers shall not exceed 25. The Legislative Assembly has a total strength of 87 elected and two nominated members while the Legislative Council has strength of 37 members.

Sources within the NC said the party high command was not in favour of expansion or reshuffle.

“There are more contenders for Cabinet berths in the NC, while only one berth is vacant for accommodating the party candidate,” they added.