Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday distributed appointment orders among candidates selected through the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar, telling the incoming batch of officers that the day marked the beginning of their public service rather than its culmination.
Addressing the newly appointed officers, the Chief Minister described the appointment as “a new beginning” and urged them to consider, from the very first day, how they would wish to be remembered at the close of their careers. He drew a sharp distinction between the two kinds of legacy available to a serving officer, noting that honest, capable and hardworking officers earn lasting respect, while corrupt and dishonest officers are also remembered, though without any respect attached to their names.
The Chief Minister rejected the argument, common among young entrants to the bureaucracy, that little can be achieved until the wider system begins to cooperate. He said officers should not resign themselves to institutional inertia, stressing that even a single officer acting with conviction is capable of bringing change to the system. Citing the examples of former Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan and Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, he urged the selectees to take the initiative themselves instead of waiting for reform to arrive from above.
Turning to the daily work of administration, Omar Abdullah reminded the officers that there is a story behind every file that reaches their desk. Every application and every complaint, he said, represents a person’s problem, reason or compulsion, and each deserves to be understood rather than merely processed.
He asked the officers to keep the principal challenges facing Jammu and Kashmir at the centre of their work, listing improvement of the education system, retention of children in schools, cleanliness and the visual character of the region’s towns and cities, and the growing impact of climate change on the Himalayan belt.
The selectees, he said, had received an opportunity that very few people in the region ever get, and he urged them to use their positions to contribute meaningfully to the future of Jammu and Kashmir. Assuring them of his continued support, the Chief Minister said he intended to follow their careers over the coming decades, and wished them success while urging them to take the right path, make the right decisions and serve the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
