INTERNAL AUDIT NECESSARY
There is no doubt that the erstwhile State of J&K was marred by rampant corruption and many among those sitting at helm at that point of time were supporting the same tacitly giving tough time to common man. In this regard many cases of nepotism and wrongful support of people having links with those sitting at higher posts during that time have been exposed and the same lead to alienation of the masses as the government used to lose credibility due to misdeeds of some of the people managing the affairs of the government. There used to be scams in providing jobs during those days with people manipulating the documents with regard to qualification, age, etc and getting entry into the government sector giving two hoots to rules and regulations. As many cases have surfaced in the past also and now the Economic Offence Wing of Crime Branch Kashmir has filed a charge-sheet against two women for producing fake date of birth certificates to join the department of Handicrafts, there is a need to address the issue on priority. Though the aforesaid case is in court of law and it is not right to comment but the issue is of great importance and as the LG Manoj Sinha has vowed to wipe out corruption from the soil of J&K, it is necessary that government should hold an internal audit of all the employees to check the validity of the documents which they have submitted during the time of joining the government jobs to clear the clout and ensure a fair deal because the quantum of corruption during the successive regimes in J&K was quite alarming and one cannot rule out more of such cases where people were deliberately allowed to manipulate documents or submit fake credentials to give edge to the blue-eyed in providing them government jobs. In the aforesaid case of two women, the action was initiated after a written communication received from Director Handicrafts, Kashmir wherein it was alleged that Ex-Manager Massive Carpets Scheme, Handicrafts Department filed a writ petition before the High Court, wherein among other issues, the petitioner raised doubt against the qualification and age of other employees of aforementioned scheme. It was during the course of investigation that the entry in Service Book as fake Date of Birth and other circumstances clearly established that the accused women joined the department of Handicrafts on the basis of fake and fabricated date of birth certificates. To ensure deliverance of justice it is advisable that the government should go for a massive audit exercise in each and every department to identify and punish any of the cases of akin nature where employees have forged documents or given wrong information about their credentials.