Corruption Charges: ACB booked the then Tribal Affairs Director/Assistant Director & 7 others.

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL

SHYAM SOOD

Allegations….
** Post Matric Scholarship of ST candidates directly disbursed to Institutions in Rajouri & Poonch.
** Rs 33.30 lakh given to an institution having no accreditation with NIELIT.
**Misappropriation of Govt funds to the tune of Rs 1.66 crore.

RAJOURI, OCT 09:-After outcome of allegations of corruption, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) J&K has registered a formal case against the then Director & Assistant Director of Tribal Affairs ((from 2014 to 2018) and 7 others-including owners of institutions-for misappropriation of government funds to the tune of more than Rs1.66 Crores related to Post Matric Scholarship scheme to ST candidates.
“The outcome of the allegation’s verification constitutes prima-facie offences punishable under section 5(1)(c)(d) r/w section 5(2) of J&K PC Act, Svt. 2006 & section 120-B RPC. Accordingly, case FIR No. 05/2024 is registered in police station ACB Rajouri, and the investigation of the case is taken up,” read ACB press briefing.
The accused have been identified as Mohd Sharief Choudhary (then Director Tribal Affairs J&K); Muzaffar Hussain Wani (then Assistant Director); Gulzar Hussain (then Junior Assistant); Javed Ahmed (then in-charge Computer Assistant); Shaheen Naqishbandi (then Head Assistant and other officers/officials of Tribal Affairs Department J&K); Mohd Javaid s/o Lal Hussain r/o Gunthel (owner of M/S National Computer Institute Surankote & M/S Infotech Institute of Computers Poonch); Mohd Farooq s/o Mohd Abdullah r/o Village Dodaj Sabzi Tehsil Darhal (owner of M/S Techno Park College of Professional Studies, Rajouri); Mohd. Shakeel s/o Mohd Jameel r/o Manjakote (owner of M/S M.S.Khan Computer Institute, Rajouri); and Muddasir Ahmed s/o Ghulam Mohd Bhat r/o near high school Shamspora, Bijbehara Anantnag (owner of M/S NESSOW Institute Surankot.
In a press briefing ACB said that instant case was registered on the outcome of a verification conducted by this Bureau to look into the allegations that Directorate of Tribal Affairs J&K while implementing Post Matric Scholarship, Government of India sponsored scheme entitled for ST candidates, indulged in gross violation of guidelines and released crores of rupees to un-recognized institutes for un-recognized courses etc.
Verification revealed that the Government of India had launched a Post Matric Scholarship scheme to ST candidates to complete their education with Rs 18,000 scholarship per student & Rs 2300 maintenance allowance.
The objective behind the scheme was to provide financial assistance to ST students studying at post matriculation or post-secondary stage to enable them to complete their education and reimburse the compulsory fee to the students charged by recognized institutes.
“But the officers/officials of Tribal Affairs Department without checking the genuineness of the institutes as well as infrastructure/course contents provided by institutes, even without ensuring the end use of scholarship amount and guidelines, disbursed the scholarship fee of about Rs. 1,66,20,000/- during 2014 to 2018 directly in the bank accounts of the institutes” read ACB press release.
Surprisingly, verification also revealed one of the institutes namely M/S NESSOW computer institute Poonch was not having proper accreditation with NIELIT or other recognised body, but Tribal Affairs officers/officials disbursed the scholarship fees amounting Rs. 33,30,000/-to this institute also.
“Even the other four institutes having accreditation with NIELIT, have not conducted the examination of the candidates through NIELIT, rather issued the course certificates by itself, having no value, thereby defeating the very purpose of the post matric scholarship scheme” read ACB press release.
Besides, the course contents and duration of CHM “O” level and “O” level, provided by NIELIT was different from the course contents provided by Institutes on the diploma issued by the Institutes.
By acting in this manner, the officers/officials of Tribal Affairs Department namely Mohd Sharief Choudhary, then Director Tribal Affairs J&K, Muzaffar Hussain Wani, then Assistant Director, Gulzar Hussain, then Junior Assistant, Javed Ahmed, then in-charge Computer Assistant, Shaheen Naqishbandi, then Head Assistant, having prescribed duties, by abuse of their official positions and in lieu of criminal conspiracy hatched among themselves as well as with beneficiaries by way of manipulating record as well as violating guidelines of Post Matric Scholarship Scheme.