‘When you don't get to decide who your officers are, it’s not a pretty picture’

A year into his term as the first chief minister of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah has been navigating a raft of challenges stemming from the Pahalgam terror attack that gutted the Valley’s thriving tourism business, dealing a debilitating blow to economy, and the Monsoon disasters that ravaged infrastructure in Jammu region.

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In an interview to Ramesh Vinayak and Mir Ehsan at his residence in Srinagar on Sunday, soon after completing a 21-km run in the Kashmir Marathon, the 55-year-old National Conference leader spoke on a range of issues, including the lack of progress on statehood restoration and his frequent run-ins with Raj Bhawan. Edited excerpts:

How has been the first year of your government?

For any government, it is a challenge when the transition is from one elected government to another. Our transition was even more unique. We transitioned from the President's rule to an elected government. And, for a lot of us, transition has also been from a state government to a Union Territory government. So, ithas been a steep learning curve.

In the last one year, you have been at odds with the Lt Governor on several issues. How is that impacting your functioning?

Look, when you don't get to decide who your officers are, itis not a pretty picture. If (someone) was to tell Prime Minister Modi that he is not going to decide who are going to be his secretaries of various departments in the Government of India, or who would be the next chief of army staff, how easy would it be for him to govern? That is the situation we find ourselves in. I look after the departments, but the administrative secretaries are not of my choosing. Idon't even get to discipline officers if their performance has been less than satisfactory. Obviously, they are accountable to the person who puts them here. The distribution of powers makes it very clear that IAS and IPS appointments are the direct responsibility of Raj Bhawan . But even on J & K Administrative Services ( JKAS) officers, there is a problem.