In a surprise development, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday sacked the high-profile chairman of the J&K Bank, Parvez Ahmad, and appointed RK Chibber in his place.

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Removal of Ahmad comes amidst a series of controversies, including the recruitment process of the bank in which candidates belonging to Kashmir were allegedly given preference against those of Jammu and Ladakh.

Minutes after the removal of Ahmad, the state vigilance organisation sleuths raided the corporate headquarters of the bank in Srinagar and were reportedly searching for records of nearly 1,200 appointments made allegedly at the behest of political masters of the previous PDP-BJP government in the state and during Ahmad’s tenure.

Unceremoniously removing Ahmad from the post of chairman, an order issued by the Additional Secretary, Finance Department, Vishal Sharma reads: “Mr Parvez Ahmad, Chairman cum Managing Director shall cease to be director on the Board of Directors of the Bank and consequently be no longer the Chairman cum Managing Director of the Board.”

RK Chhibber, who is executive president of the bank, has been appointed as the interim-  chairman cum managing director of the bank. This is perhaps for the first time that the chairman of the bank has been appointed from the Jammu region.

The ongoing process of recruitment of probationary officers of the bank came under severe criticism as the cut-off  marks percentage for the candidates of Jammu was fixed very high while that of Kashmir was comparatively low. The Governor intervened and the cut off was brought at par for all three regions, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

The bank was incorporated during the regime of the Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh in 1938 and the state government owns 59 per cent shares of J&K Bank.

Keeping in view the serious controversies in which the bank was involved, the state administrative council (SAC) headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik in November last year approved a proposal to treat the J&K Bank as a public sector undertaking (PSU). The SAC

also approved the proposal that the Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, 2009 will now be applicable to the Bank, just like other banks under PSU. However, the Kashmir-centric politicians criticised the decision and efforts were made to scuttle the decisions of the SAC.

Before that, Malik had dropped a bombshell by claiming that 582 candidates, who qualified Jammu and Kashmir Bank examinations, were sidelined by the politicians in the PDP-BJP coalition government to adjust their relatives and workers.

The governor said that a group of 40 candidates met him and told him that they had been dropped from the selection list despite qualifying the exams as well as interview for the recruitment in Jammu and Kashmir Bank.