The UP cadre IAS officer Durga Nagpal’s controversial suspension that led to a political storm has emboldened the senior most female IAS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre to highlight her ordeal.
The 1979-batch officer, Sonali Kumar was last week shunted out of Principal Resident Commissioner’s post in New Delhi just three months after assuming the charge. This was her 11th transfer in the past six years.
Kumar was transferred to head the Jammu & Kashmir Special Tribunal, a post which is given to sidelined bureaucrats as “punishment”. Even as the Government maintains that the transfer was a routine affair finalised in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, reports said that Kumar was shunted out because a group of State officers and legislators had complained against her.
Principal Resident Commissioner liaises between the State and the Central Government in Delhi besides managing J&K’s properties in the national capital including Kashmir House at Chanakaya Puri and Prithviraj Road.
The officers were in Delhi in connection with the annual plan fixation meeting with the Planning Commission while the legislators were exploring the status of J&K’s immovable assets in New Delhi.
The Government officials, mostly pampered, have reportedly complained that they did not receive the befitting protocol. The legislators have grudged that the senior officer did not accompany them to the sites. Kumar has taken up the matter with Cabinet Secretary Sunil Seth.