One border district of Jammu region suffering from administrative apathy due to discord in DC and SSP; DC poking his nose in SSP office unnecessarily
SALIL RAINA
(POONCH TODAY NEWS)
POONCH: There are many examples of a few IAS/IPS/JKAS/JKPS officers who have unfortunately adopted arrogance as their weapon and love to show authority to their subordinates and public, even for no reason.
It’s the primary and moral duty of a top officer to form good relations with subordinates aimed at achieving great results in any department/administration. Top officers should have a broader vision and must have a passion to work for the public and should also understand that “Public and fellow workers are not to be underestimated as fools” as said by Abraham Lincoln. But who cares about such quotes as “Arrogance” of a few top officers is spoiling the good prospects of a border district of the Jammu region. Highly placed sources told “POONCH TODAY” newspaper, that a Deputy Commissioner of an important and sensitive border district, who has been showing himself as a messiah of the poor by means of initiating various developmental works, generally on paper, thanks to some amateurish people in the fourth estate, who are projecting him as a good man, has his other face also, where he treats his SSP in bad terms and used to poke his nose in every affair of police. Sources in civil administration and police told “POONCH TODAY” that the Deputy Commissioner, by crossing his line, directed SSP to give him a weekly crime report of the district regularly in addition to information about some more important issues, which is, reportedly not the subject of the office of Deputy Commissioner, directly. On many occasions during sensitive situations, the bad chemistry between the top two officers were seen frequently and during routine official meetings also, SSP mostly deputed his junior to attend those. Anguish over the unprofessional behavior of DC, the SSP, reportedly also playing smart tricks to show DC his true place. The, reportedly bigheaded Deputy Commissioner, after taking over the reins of that border district, earlier called an official meeting and started giving sermons on honesty and work culture to his subordinates and also passed some strict orders just to create an impression in public that he was a strong Deputy Commissioner and knows how to handle the things. In a real sense, he wanted to show his political bosses behind the curtains that he has all the qualities to run a district on his own. Sources close to “POONCH TODAY” said that the said officer, who once enjoyed a powerful posting and was known for out rightly supporting a big business group of Jammu related to liquor and the fourth estate, also has strong political backing, that’s why he wants to play the entire match single-handedly to safeguard his future interest by pleasing his political bosses. Both the top officers are running a most sensible border district, but their bad professional equation has reached the top echelons of government. SSP has been facing a lot of pressure on various issues and is trying to act in a professional manner and has started slowly gaining the respect of the public, but the Deputy Commissioner doesn’t like this and wants to project the SSP in negative terms and even trying for a new SSP in the district by knocking at the doors of his political bosses indirectly through various sources. Although the Deputy Commissioner has been mostly implementing the policies of the government on the ground strappingly, his bad chemistry with SSP has become a most debatable topic everywhere including the civil secretariat and among police officers in the top brass. The bad coordination between DC and SSP due to the arrogance is a strong indicator that all is not well in the working of the administration of that border district. To test the character of any officer, we need to follow the quote of Abraham Lincoln, “Nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. There are strong signals that the Deputy Commissioner has adopted self-importance as his character and by violating his protocol, he is trying to teach policing to SSP, which shows that DC has been behaving out of the premeditated protocol. An officer must have out-of-the-box thinking for excellence in work but in this important border district which always remains under the eyes of national and international watchdogs, the Deputy Commissioner seems to have forgotten all rules and has been giving undue importance to his authority. He is not a team leader, but in reality, playing like a “Robin hood” purpose best known to him, through his few specially deputed officers, in the administration who have a history of looting funds from other officers and also from various developmental schemes. Few of them have been enjoying a long stay of more than eight years in that district in different capacities in administration. Although, the matter of DC poking his nose in the SSP office is already in the notice of the top brass of J&K police, and accordingly, the Deputy Commissioner was advised by top police brass not to repeat such things as it hampers better output of administration as far as solving public issues is concerned. The government needs to introduce special training programs for such officers who stand with their unfilled self-importance by means of hollow arrogance, least bothered about public issues and better administrative coordination.