Iqbal Khanday passes away

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 11/20/2018 1:10:00 PM

SRINAGAR, Nov 19: Former chief secretary Iqbal Khanday passed away at SKIMS here last night.
He was 63 and is survived by wife judge Kaneez Fatima and daughter Sehar Iqbal.
Khanday was suffering from cancer. His condition deteriorated few days back and was admitted to SKIMS.
His death has been widely mourned. Governor Satya Pal Malik, former governor NN Vohra, former chief ministers Dr Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti have condoled the death.
People from all walks of life including politicians, bureaucrats, relatives and friends joined his funeral at Friends Colony near airport. They also visited the residence of bereaved family there.
Khanday left the position of chief secretary on August 31, 2015, before his superannuation following differences with the then government. He remained confined to home, post-retirement. Sometime later, his cancer recurred and he was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai.
A 1978 batch IAS officer Iqbal Khanday was elevated to the coveted position of new chief secretary of J&K state in February 2013. The 1955 born bureaucrat held various positions in the state government before taking the top position.
Khanday was a deputy commissioner, a director and then headed planning – for a long time, tourism, health, home, finance, R&B, besides heading the IMPA. He was principal secretary to the former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Khanday was the third officer from Kashmir to get the coveted berth. But he is the first direct IAS recruit from Kashmir who could make it. His senior M Shafi Pandit could not make it and retired just a step earlier.
Earlier also, Khanday suffered lung cancer and was treated at Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai and Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York in 1995-97.
Khanday’s son Sajid Iqbal (born June 19, 1984), the 28-year-old budding lawyer and civil rights activist, was killed in a road accident near Awantipora in the night in May 2011. Burn Hall alumni, Sajid graduated in law from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was occasionally writing for local newspapers including The Kashmir Times.
Post-retirement, Khanday kept a low profile and stayed away from the public life. He rarely talked to media and was confined to his circle and relations. After the disease recurred, he remained busy managing himself.
Khanday belonged to the Devalgam village in Kokernag. His father Abdul Gani was a government employee and his mother was a school teacher.

 

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