Dispute over J&K CVC, Mehbooba Mufti walks out of meet

Srinagar: There seems to be yet another conflict between Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Opposition PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti. The PDP leader charged out of a meeting on Monday after an argument with the Chief Minister over the appointment of the state's first Chief Vigilance Commissioner.

Mufti expressed dipleasure over the suggestion of State DGP Kuldeep Khoda taking over the post.

The four member selection committee headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met on Monday evening to decide the panel of names to be submitted to Governor NN Vohra for the selection of chief vigilance commissioner and two vigilance commissioners.

Mehbooba Mufti expressed dipleasure over the suggestion of State DGP Kuldeep Khoda taking over the post.

Besides the chief minister, the other members of the selection committee were Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar and Mehbooba Mufti, in her capacity as the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

Talking to media persons after the meeting, Sagar said the selection committee had forwarded the final recommendations to the state governor.

"The chief minister made an effort to evolve consensus as was done earlier in the case of appointment to the state information commission and the state accountability commission.

"A panel of six persons each for CVC and VCs was deliberated upon in the meeting. However, there was no consensus on the name of the CVC as the same was not agreed to by the leader of opposition."

"Institutions such as the vigilance commission should be kept above politics, but unfortunately some persons are politicizing the appointments to these institutions," he added.

Sagar, however, confirmed that the recommendations had been framed and would now be submitted to the governor.

(With additional information from IANS)

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