New Delhi, Sep 2,2022:Till August 5, 2019 when the Centre abrogated J&Ks special status and divided it into two union territories, a few rich and influential people used to believe that J&K Bank is their fiefdom. They used to call shots with the bank management remaining at their beck and call. However, during the past three years the J&K Bank has become a peoples bank in ‘Naya J&K’ and has been treating all its customers equally.

The era of granting privilege to only a few people has ended.

The J&K Bank has had a chequered past due to which it remained marred with controversies. In July 2013, editor of Rising Kashmir and senior journalist late Shujaat Bukhari wrote an article, “J&K Bank: Credibility at stake”. He wrote about the self speaking hoarding of the bank claiming Rs 100,000 crore business. Bukhari, who was shot dead by the terrorists outside his office at Press Enclave in Srinagar in 2018, in his article discussed J&K Bank’s unique position due to it being a banker to the then state government. He had highlighted that the Bank never got any “bad press” due to it providing advertisements and loans to all the local newspapers in the valley.

Bukhari highlighted how unfairly J&K Bank had carried out the recruitment process of the Relationship Executives in 2013 and instead of making the selection list public it had sent appointment letters to the appointees through post. The veteran journalist had questioned the logic behind turning the recruitment process into a “secret affair”.

In his write up, he had mentioned about the politicians using their influence to get the candidates appointed. He had also written about the Bank turning into a property of a few influential families. But at that point of time the politicians, who were ruling J&K, didn’t pay much heed towards the issues that were raised by him.

Skeletons tumble out

Skeletons started tumbling out of J&K Bank’s closet soon after Bukhari’s assassination. His cold blooded murder in 2018 led to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulling out from the government led by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir following which the Governor’s rule was imposed in the Himalayan region. Satya Pal Malik took over the reins of the erstwhile state and many things that had been pushed under the carpet came to the fore.

Malik blew off the lid of a major recruitment scam in the J&K Bank. He revealed that 582 selected candidates were replaced with political appointees during the PDP led regime. His revelation vindicated Bukhari’s article, which he had written in 2013. In the write up he had minced no words to send a message that all is not well in J&K Bank.

J&K Bank scams

In October 2019, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) lodged an FIR in the J&K Bank loan fraud case involving an amount of over Rs 1,100 crore. The amount was advanced by the bank to Rice Exports India (REI) Agro Ltd in a clandestine manner.

The ACB probe had revealed the J&K Bank had violated NABARD guidelines deliberately and with mala fide intentions to give the loan to the firm. On a scrutiny of the bank’s records, nothing was found as to who had drafted the loan documents and there was not even any vetting certificate of its law department.

In January 2020, the ACB arrested Hilal Ahmed Rather son of former J&K Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather on the charges of diverting Rs 177 crore in business loans from J&K Bank to personal assets abroad, including an eight-bedroom villa on a Dubai island where celebrities like actor Shah Rukh Khan and footballer David Beckham own properties.

Hilal Rather was arrested after investigation established that he used his father’s influence as finance minister in the Omar Abdullah-led government in 2012 to get multiple loans sanctioned in the name of business ventures. Hilal and his business partners took the bulk of these loans for the Paradise Avenue township project at Narwalbala Batandi in Jammu. Almost the entire amount was allegedly diverted to other businesses, personal properties and lavish holidays abroad.

The probe carried out by the ACB revealed that the Paradise Avenue project, a joint venture between Hilaland others, had been sanctioned a term loan of Rs 74.27 crore in the first phase. This was a departure from J&K Bank’s credit policy, which restricted any loan sought by a partnership firm to Rs 40 crore. In the case of Paradise Avenue, the loan was approved by the then Board of Directors of J&K Bank in contravention of the credit rules.

Former J&K Bank chairman arrested

In April 2021, former chairman of J&K Bank Parvez Ahmad Nengroo was arrested by Anti Corruption Bureau in connection with a case of illegal allotment of tenders for housekeeping that led to a loss of crores of rupees to the bank. The ACB had registered a case in October 2020 against a private firm and three former bank officials, including Nengroo, for allegedly causing Rs 6.92-crore loss to the bank by not following tendering rules.

Besides this case, the ACB had said that charge sheets in connection with another case registered in 2020 have already been filed before the Anti-Corruption Court against Nengroo. The case related to illegal appointments in J&K bank which suffered a loss of more than Rs 250 crore on account of salary paid to these illegal employees over the period.

J&K Bank revamped

During the past three years the J&K Bank has been revamped. It has been made accessible to a common man in the Himalayan region. It’s no more the fiefdom of the rich and influential. Efforts are on to bring the bank at par with the nationalized banks.

Last month, the J&K Bank under the nationwide Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ program, launched multiple initiatives aimed at encouraging self-reliance in people. After 2019, the bank has strengthened its bond with the people of J&K. It has set a target for providing employment to five lakh youth and is also focusing on lakhs of students under its financial literacy program.

The Bank is providing financial help to Self Help Groups and loans to new generation entrepreneurs. It is playing a vital role in the socio-economic development of J&K by implementing the various government initiatives.

During the last financial year, the Bank organised 1,125 camps across J&K wherein people were made aware about the basics of financial literacy.

The bank is laying emphasis on providing self-employment training to J&K youth. In this regard, the bank in the last financial year conducted 142 such programs and trained 3,280 young men and women with 1,154 of them at present owning their own self-employment ventures. These units have been linked with the bank credit.

Last month the Board of Directors of the J&K Bank called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. They informed him that the bank has achieved a profit of Rs 165.97 crore in the quarter ending June 2022, as against Rs 104.32 crore for the same quarter previous year.

The J&K Bank is on move and is emerging as the one of the most vibrant institutions in ‘Naya Jammu and Kashmir’.