[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap]fter a long wait the Mehbooba Mufti led alliance govt in Jammu and Kashmir has cracked its whip against the government employees for allegedly indulging in anti-national activities. Out of the 180 state government employees, termination orders of only 9 employees have been issued by the state govt. PGurus had asked the Kashmir Government in its October 8th post on what was stopping it from taking action on the Govt. employees. Now something is happening on the ground.
…question marks have been raised over the entire exercise as big fish have been left out and junior most employees have been made target of the govt exercise.
However, the strict action taken by the state govt has not gone down well with the employees association in the state.
They claimed the state government employees whose services have been terminated have not been given the opportunity to plead their case before the expert committee nor any departmental inquiries were constituted against them to ascertain their involvement behind anti-national activities during the three month long period of unrest in Kashmir valley.
On the other hand question marks have been raised over the entire exercise as big fish have been left out and junior most employees have been made target of the govt exercise.
According to official sources all the seven gazetted officers besides 6 Police officials in the list of 180 persons have been spared and their services have not been terminated by Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he employees, who were dismissed from government service, belonged to various departments, including Revenue, Public Health Engineering, Rural Development and Education Department, a senior government official said.
The intelligence wing of the state police had earlier prepared a dossier against 36 employees for fomenting trouble in Kashmir and inciting youth to resort to violence.
The state government invoked Article 126 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution for dismissing these employees.
Some of these employees had been arrested and booked under the Public Safety Act while others were either out on bail or evading arrest.
The intelligence wing of the state police had earlier prepared a dossier against 36 employees for fomenting trouble in Kashmir and inciting youth to resort to violence.
The dossier was sent to the Chief Secretary’s office for further action.
State government employees have been allegedly found involved in anti-national activities in the past as well and some of them were dismissed from service.
Sitting Education Minister Naeem Akhtar was among five government employees dismissed from service by the state government in 1990 for his alleged involvement in anti-national activities.
Their services were later restored after employees went on a mass strike for nearly three months.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]A[/dropcap]ccording to a senior government servant, “vested interests at the highest level prevailed and in some cases even politicians of one ruling party intervened to rescue over 150 of the “anti-national” government employees”.
On the other hand, Opposition parties in the state criticised the government action.
Opposition leaders even advised the alliance govt to be more magnanimous and revoke the dismissal orders.
Meanwhile, J&K Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) President Abdul Qayoom Wani threatened that the state government employees would launch a strike if the Government chose not to revoke the termination orders.
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With Omar Abdullah speaking strongly at NYU is forcing Mehbooba to act strongly. All the three parties PDP, NC and BJP seems to be on the same page on this issue. Using this opportunity, she should have taken a strong action against all of them to bring in discipline and curtail anti-national activities. It appears to me that missed the opportunity presented by a rare convergence of opinion between NC and PDP