Transition of enforcement wing duties from employees of Jammu Development Authority to deputed officials of Revenue Department has been viewed by former as fiddling with service rules and an act of misadventure that will only strength more corruption and ramp up morale of land mafia.
Vide order No 185/JDA 2025 dated 4/09/2025, the newly posted VC, JDA, Rupesh Kumar, citing administrative “efficiency” and “effective” field management, has assigned supervision of all 15 zones along with enforcement duties to eight Patwaris deputed to JDA from Revenue Department.
Aggrieved over the order, employees attribute it a move to disempower internal employees of JDA, having adverse consequences on zonal regulations and result in accelerating corruption on account of unauthorized constructions and illegal colonies in JDA’s jurisdiction. In past, the deputed employees have earned ignominy to JDA and easily escaped on completion of deputation stint without any accountability allegedly for patronizing encroachment on JDAs land. Entire administration, well versed with nexus of Patwaris with land mafia in J&K UT, alleged employees.
Referring to grabbing of a JDA’s prime land worth several crore last year adjoining M/s Anand Marble in Marble market allegedly in connivance with one Patwari, an employee of JDA confiding anonymity said, “Day in and day out, Patwaris, Girdawars, and Naib Tehsildars of Revenue department are hogging limelight for corruption and grave irregularities in land management, yet authorities stripped JDA officials from duties of Khilafwarzi-Inspector and favored patwaris with enforcement duties.”
Pertinent to mention here that reacting to a series of exposes by JK Global News, the then Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. Raghav Langar carried out surprise inspections in several zones of JDA and red-flagged one Tehsildar and several officials of Revenue deputed to JDA for turning a blind eye towards proliferation of illegal colonies in Bishnah, Vijaypur, Sunjawan, Chowadhi, and Birpur. Following JKGN relentless campaign, the administration later recall deputation of several corrupt patwaris from JDA.
However, claiming VC move as a step to streamline functioning of enforcement wing, which is in eyes of storm for dereliction of duties , especially visible BOCA violations, which have caused enormous loss to state coffers and resulted in unplanned development, one Tehsildar of JDA, preferring anonymity, told JK Global News, “The move is aimed at effective implementation of JMP-2032, and moving forwards, whosoever is performing job of khilafwarzi inspector in JDA cannot go scot-free for corrupt practices.”
Whereas, another officer opined that officials of JDA have in-depth experience of enforcement wing and, despite an immense manpower shortage, have acted effectively against violators, leading to retrieval of several hundred kanals of land and a sharp rise in building permission cases.
If authorities really intend to eradicate corruption, then why delegate enforcement duties to deputized employees of a department that is itself notorious for gross irregularities? Instead, the glaring gaps in working of enforcement wing can be plugged by ensuring accountability among JDAs’ employees with punitive measures. The order appears risky with unpleasant ramifications. Efforts to seek view of VC JDA couldn’t materialize, and we will update the news item with his statement on the matter as and when he becomes available.
JK GLOBAL NEWS TAKE: Massive reform in JDA functioning is need of the hour. But this crucial task cannot be accomplished with a MYOPIC vision. It is essential to implement robust oversight mechanisms with stress on e-governance to genuinely combat rampant corruption. In the absence of accountability and transparency, the risk of irregularities may persist in Enforcement Wing, undermining the intended reforms initiated by the incumbent Vice-Chairman.