The Jammu And Kashmir government has expelled the twelve government officials allegedly for taking part in the protests against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani on July 8.

According to the reports the employees have been sacked for questioning the sovereignty and integrity of India and violating the rules governing conduct of employees in the state.

The J&K Education minister and spokesperson Nayeem Akhtar has been quoted by a leading daily as saying, “The law has taken its course. These are only the worst cases.”

The Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC), a four lakh member-organization has said that government’s action was unjustified and one sided.

In the past 26 years, this is the first time that the government has sacked its employees for participating in protests. Earlier in1 1990, five government officials were expelled for anti-national activities, which had triggered a three-month shutdown by the government workers. Interestingly Akhtar was one of the five workers, who were sacked in 1990.

Although the government has not revealed the names of the employees, according to the media sources, there are no gazetted officers in the list and all the are lower-rung officials, which includes two officials of the education department, one from public health engineering and a revenue official.

President of the Employee Union, Qayoom Wani said, “This is unjustified. Ho can you terminate someone without an inquiry? How can you terminate someone without issuing a showcause notice?”

To prevent the workers from seeking a stay in its order, the government has filed a caveat in court.

According to the reports, the decision has been taken after J&K Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a month ago, has filed a report which includes a list of 150 government officials, including some gazetted officers, who were allegedly involved in protests. This list had been sent to the government for action.

Prajakt