Altaf Bukhari seeks revocation of Satya Narayan’s appointment as J&K Bank CFO

Tribune News Service

Srinagar April 25

Appointment of Satya Narayan Gupta — a non-state subject — as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of J&K Bank has come under criticism with Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) president Mohammad Altaf Bukhari describing it as a violation of the Domicile Law. 

Bukhari on Saturday took a strong exception to the procedure and criteria adopted for appointing people to the top posts in J&K Bank, saying there seems to be a “sinister design” to dilute J&K Bank’s functional autonomy.

Bukhari described the appointment of a non-domicile of J&K as the Chief Financial Officer of J&K Bank an unprecedented move aimed at playing with the economic aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

“I am told that the government at the helm in J&K clandestinely amended the recruitment rules after August 5, 2019, and has created a window for the appointment of non-residents of J&K especially to the top posts in J&K Bank. This is totally unacceptable because any such recruitment is illegal and in violation of the Domicile Law for J&K,” said Bukhari.

Jammu and Kashmir Bank approved the appointment of Gupta as its CFO on Thursday.

Bukhari demanded immediate revocation of the order issued on April 23 and said there seemed to be a pattern to appoint and promote people to the top posts while discarding the requirements of the Domicile Law for such appointments in the J&K Bank.

“I call upon the Union Home Minister to intervene into the matter and take cognisance of how the post of CFO was advertised and later filled up, throwing the Domicile Law to the winds,” Bukhari pleaded.

He claimed that it had happened for the first time that “officiating” executive presidents in J&K Bank had been designated and that too without informing or seeking consent from the RBI.

“For appointment of Executive Presidents the government has to go by the merit, including interviews and seniority. But I am told that all the eligible candidates for these posts were not called for interview. This is totally illegal,” said Bukhari.

He also demanded that designation of all the three Executive Presidents should be confirmed by the RBI.  

Bukhari also demanded that the J&K Bank should declare results of over 1,50,000 aspirants who had appeared for examination for the posts of banking associates and probationary officers, but were waiting for the results for the last over two years.

“Two years after a three-phase-examination conducted during Governor SP Malik’s tenure, which drove lakhs of qualified aspirants to examination centres, the present dispensation is unnecessarily delaying its results,” Bukhari remarked.