Abrar A. Mattoo
SRINAGAR, May 3: In a recent turn of events, two more Kashmiri officers one with a gazetted grade have been dismissed from government services by the J&K government “in the interest of security”.
Dr. Abdul Bari Naik, an assistant professor, Geography, Government degree college women, Udhampur, and Nazir Ahmad Wani, Naib Tehsildar, Pulwama are the two recent additions to what is presumed is to be a long list of dismissals in offing.
Earlier, on Saturday, when a middle school teacher was dismissed from government services, various people came out in hus support and called it a “tyrannical use of the doctrine of pleasure” by authorities.
However, since the dismissals of the employees were not subjected to an internal inquiry by their respective departments and concerned employers, the only recourse left with the terminated employees is the court of law.
Sub-clause C, section (2) of Article 311 of the Indian constitution allows the governor or the president to dismiss a government serviceman in the case where he/she is satisfied that the actions of a particular employee warrant dismissal.
“Government has the power to pass such orders, but these orders can be subjected to the judicial view. The court will examine the record, and if the court will find that this was not a proper exercise of power, it will strike these orders off, because there are set principles laid down by the Honorable Supreme Court in terms where such powers could be executed. But the scope of judicial view depends upon the material available. In most of the cases in the past when similar actions were taken against the employees under section 126 of the erstwhile constitution of J&K, most of the employees were reinstated by the court, but even then, it again depend on the record,” Jehangir Iqbal Ganaie, Senior Lawyer and former advocate general of J&K told Kashmir Despatch.
In all the cases of dismissal, it was claimed by either the family members of the terminated officials or by the officials themselves, that in service of their own grudges some people have mislead the government with misrepresented facts, and the GAD has taken their words without looking thoroughly into the matter.
“A year ago, a senior police officer engaged into a verbal argument with my father while he was performing the Covid-19 related duties in the onset of the pandemic at Rajpora, Pulwama. Then what followed was that he was framed into a fabricated case, and has been languishing in jail since. In his absence, our family has been living on hand to mouth. His salary was stopped long ago, and now came this order; salt into our wounds,” lamented Amir Nazir Wani, son of Nazir Ahmad Wani, the dismissed Naib Tahsildar while talking to Kashmir Despatch.
