Mehbooba says ‘disdainful’ conduct of IAS officer with woman JKAS officer ‘cannot be tolerated’

Srinagar: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said the “erratic and disdainful” conduct of senior IAS officer Kumar Rajeev Ranjan with a woman JKAS officer cannot be tolerated, and urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take up the matter with the Centre.Ranjan, Administrative Secretary, Labour and Employment Department, courted controversy after he allegedly used abusive language against Assistant Director (Employment), Ganderbal, Beenish Wani, over the role of the National Rural Livelihood Mission during a review meeting earlier this week.

“Such erratic and disdainful conduct cannot be tolerated. CM @OmarAbdullah must immediately take up the matter with the Government of India and demand strict action against the officer who is already facing allegations of issuing illegal gun licences,” Mehbooba said in a post on X.Videos of the heated exchange between Ranjan and Wani surfaced on social media, drawing condemnation from the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS) fraternity on Thursday.

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday ordered an in-depth inquiry into the incident and appointed 2004-batch IAS officer and Commissioner-Secretary to the Housing and Urban Development Department Mandeep Kaur as the inquiry officer, an official order said.She has been asked to submit her report within 15 days of the issuance of the order.