JK Bank in focus

J&K Bank has remained in news for all wrong reasons in the recent past. First Governor Satya Pal Malik accused the bank authorities of tempering with merit list of its employees and then finally he decided to make it a public sector undertaking. All the political parties and all the former Chairman’s of J&K Bank have described the move of the Governor as having long term impact on the health of this bank in Kashmir.

The National Conference (NC) took out a protest march demanding a rollback of the Governor administration’s decision to treat the J&K Bank as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). The State Administrative Council (SAC) under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik approved few days back proposal for treating the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited as a PSU. According to officials, the SAC approved that the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009 shall be applicable to the bank like other PSUs. Besides, the bank shall follow CVC guidelines.

Former law maker Sheikh Abdul Rashid held a sit-in to protest the decision to treat the J&K Bank as a PSU. Rashid said the Governor “has no constitutional and moral mandate to bulldoze” the autonomy and credibility of the J&K Bank. No other state government owns a bank, the J&-K bank is an exception. Turning it into PSU means not only eroding its autonomous character, but laying a roadmap to make it like any other failed PSU. Bringing the J-K Bank under RTI has both positive and negative ramifications and measures must be taken to ensure that bringing J-K Bank under RTI helps in bringing accountability and transparency in the bank rather creating more issues.