The administration has said that these concerns have been raised by certain “isolated” quarters and that “the people of the state by and large have hailed the decision.Stating that the government has “no intention” of interfering in day-to-day affairs of J&K Bank, the Jammu and Kashmir Governor administration on Saturday clarified that the bank’s functional autonomy with the Board of Directors “as supreme decision-making body” remains unquestioned and that the bank will continue to be regulated by RBI.
In a statement, the administration said, “The latest decision taken by the State Administrative Council (SAC) is only aimed at promoting good governance and transparency in the functioning of the Bank. Extension of RTI Act and CVC guidelines is only aimed at promoting good governance and transparency in the functioning of the bank, as this premiere financial institution has often been questioned on both these counts by the general public.”
On November 22, the SAC approved turning J&K Bank to a PSU. Two former Chief Ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, had described the move as a “disturbing” development while a former chairman of the bank called it “unfortunate”. Abdullah had questioned the decision, stating that “a caretaker administrator did not have the people’s mandate to take such major decisions with far-reaching implications”. People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone said that any remedies (regarding J&K Bank) should have been institution-specific, rather than “invading it with overarching government control”.
However, the administration has said that these concerns have been raised by certain “isolated” quarters and that “the people of the state by and large have hailed the decision across the board as a welcome step”. “The concerns raised by certain isolated quarters mainly relate to the operational autonomy of the bank,” the statement read, “as far as treating J&K Bank as a PSU is concerned it is just a matter of fact and only restating the obvious. Since the State Government holds 60% of majority shares in J&K Bank, for all practical purposes, it is a Public Sector Undertaking. Therefore all transparency and accountability features that arise from this have to apply to the bank.”
