J&K govt to terminate jobs of 500 employees for alleged involvement in 'anti-national' activities

Jammu and Kashmir government has begun a process to terminate services of 500 of the employees allegedly involved in anti-national activities, sources told DH.

They said a committee, headed by the Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, has been constituted to examine and recommend dismissal of employees from their services for partaking in anti-national activities.

“The committee was formed in the backdrop of intelligence reports which suggested that a section of government employees was proactively promoting anti-India hatred, assailing New Delhi’s decisions of 5 August 2019, trolling and threatening politicians, officers and businesspersons on social media,” sources said.

Read: A year of upheaval in Jammu and Kashmir under direct rule from Delhi

On 30 July 2020, J&K General Administration Department (GAD) invoked Article 311(2)(c), a special provision of the Constitution of India for the purpose of terminating the services of the employees or reducing their ranks without holding an inquiry but on the basis of relevant records and other collateral evidence.

The Article was not applicable to Jammu & Kashmir earlier, when it enjoyed the special status granted to it under Article 370 of the Constitution.

Dispensing with some previous checks and balances, the GAD order reads: “The recommendations in respect of such cases shall be supported by relevant records which may include a copy of the interrogation report and other collateral evidence to justify dispensing with the holding of an inquiry in the interest of security of the State.”

The Law Department and GAD would process and scrutinise the cases but clearly the opinion of the Home Department and police would be pivotal in taking a decision.

Also Read: Article 370 abrogation: Silencing Kashmiris can’t be our strategy

This is not the first time since the 1990s that the government has decided to act against employees on grounds of involvement in anti-national activities. When President’s rule was imposed in 1990, among the officials dismissed on such grounds was Naeem Akthar, senior leader of the People’s Democratic Party, who also served as a cabinet minister in the previous PDP-BJP government.

Similar action was taken in 1995 and 2016. Both times, however, the officials were reinstated later. After the split of the erstwhile State into two union territories (UTs) last August, the total number of the J&K UT employees is around 450000.