The Jammu and Kashmir government today rubbished the reports claiming that rules were bent for the appointment of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's grandson as research officer in the state’s tourism department.
Reacting to media reports in a national daily today, the spokesman for Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) -- an autonomous body of Jammu and Kashmir's Tourism department, said that proper selection procedure was followed in the appointment.
The post for the research officer was advertised on October 3 last year for which 196 applications were received. Out of these, interview letters were sent out to 35 candidates, he said.
The interviews for the post were held in November last following which Anees-ul-Islam, grandson of Geelani was selected.
Anees had topped the merit list prepared by the five-member interview panel, the spokesman added.
He said that the SKICC had received the clearance from the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) late last month, and nothing adverse was found against Anees.
"The selection was done in a transparent manner and anyone can access the files as well as the notings through an RTI," the spokesman added.
Anees, an MBA from Jalandhar, was refused a passport by the state regional passport office on adverse reports from the J&K CID in 2009. He was, however, granted his passport following a court order. Anees then went to the UK for another masters in business administration.
