Four government employees—a constable, one lab technician, a teacher in the education department, and a doctor—were fired by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The four government employees were fired under Article 311 clause (2) and subclause (c) of the Indian Constitution. According to this clause, a person may be fired from public service without following the proper procedures if their continued employment compromises the security of the state. On August 5, 2019, J&K lost its special status and was covered by this statute.
The officials are Farooq Ahmad Mir, a teacher in the Education Department; Abdul Salam Rather, a laboratory official in the Higher Education Department; Constable Abdul Majeed Bhat from Kupwara; and Dr. Nisar-ul-Hassan from Baramulla, an assistant professor of medicine at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar. Remarkably, Dr. Nisar ul Hassan's termination order was issued by the General Administration Department on the same day that his promotion order as an Associate Professor was issued by his home department, Health and Medical Education. With "immediate effect," each of them has lost their employment.
According to officials, this is part of the administration's campaign against the terrorist ecosystem. Its main individuals, who were previously surreptitiously inserted into the government infrastructure by several political regimes. Government sources declared, "We have a zero-tolerance policy toward terrorism." The Lieutenant Governor’s administration is committed to eliminating terrorism in J&K. It serves as a warning to terrorists and the small number of people who support them that they could still be targeted even if they are acting clandestinely or under different guises.
In July of this year, three government officials, including the PRO of the University of Kashmir, were dismissed from office. On October 1st, the home department suspended the brother of Youth Congress leader Aadil Mushtaq, the Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police (J&K DSP), on grounds of supporting terrorists, receiving bribes from two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, and falsifying evidence. After a search of his Srinagar home on September 21, he was taken into custody on many charges.
In separate orders released by the general administration department, the government declared that the lieutenant governor is satisfied, after considering the specifics of the case and the premise of evidence, that their conduct is enough to justify their removal from service. However, the authorities withheld information on the type of terror operations these individuals were supposedly involved in.
(Input from various media sources)
(Rehash/Bharkhavy K V)
