Jammu and Kashmir Roads and Buildings and Mechanical Engineering minister Gulam Muhammad Saroori was on Thursday dismissed by the state governor following recommendation of the chief minister.
Governor N.N. Vohra has accepted the recommendation of the chief minister to dismiss Mr Saroori from his council of ministers, a Raj Bhavan release said. The charge of the public works department will be with chief minister.
The dismissal comes a day after Mr Saroori, while defying the Congress party high-command’s directive to resign, left for Jeddah from New Delhi along with his wife on way to Mecca to perform “Umrah” pilgrimage.
The minister belonging to the Congress has been embroiled in a row over his daughter Huma Tabbasum using an impersonator for MBBS/BDS entrance test of ASCOMS, Sidhra, in Jammu University last week.
The police had arrested seven impersonators, including two girls when they were appearing for other candidates in the exam including Ms Tabassum and Lovish Bharat son of former minister and senior National Conference (NC) leader Ram Paul who has already resigned from the post of chairman of the party’s Schedule Cast and Backward Class cell.
The state government has on the directions of chief minister Omar Abdullah handed over the impersonation racket to the CBI for investigations under Section 419, 420, 109 and 120-B Ranbir Penal Code and Prevention of Unfair Means Act out of the case registered at Gandhi Nagar police station, Jammu.
On Thursday, the chief minister recommended to the governor, Mr Vohra, about the dismissal of Mr Saroori from his council of ministers.
The decision to sack Mr Saroori was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Mr Abdullah here who earlier spoke to Sonia Gandhi, the president of Congress, NC’s coalition partner, over the phone.