J&K admin sacks 2 govt employees citing security

THE J&K administration has sacked two more government employees – an Assistant Professor and a revenue official – citing “security of the state” as a reason for the dismissal.

Assistant Professor Dr Abdul Bari Naik and Naib Tehsildar Nazir Ahmad Wani have been sacked under provisions of Article 211(2) (C) that allows the government to terminate services of government employees without holding an inquiry against them.

Separate orders in this regard have been issued by J&K’s General Administration Department.

Naik was arrested in March in connection with a 2018 FIR against him. Upon his arrest, police had said in an official statement that he was absconding. However, during this period he was working as the Covid District In-charge in his home district and was in constant touch with all senior police and civil officers of the district.

Interestingly, Naik contested the 2014 election as an Independent from south Kashmir’s Kulgam. He worked as an Assistant Professor in Geography and was posted at the Government Degree College, Udhampur, before his arrest.

“There is no security of state involved in this case. Dr Sahib [Naik] was booked and sacked for his crusade against corruption,” his brother Rouf Naik, an advocate, told The Indian Express. “He was a social and RTI activist.”

Rouf said they would make a representation to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and would decide on approaching court only after meeting him.

Wani, who was Naib Tehsildar in Pulwama, was arrested last year after police claimed to have found a “militant hideout” in a shop owned by him – an allegation his family denied.

A month before his arrest, Wani had complained against the Senior Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, Ashish Mishra for “misuse and abuse” of power by police in Pulwama.

In his complaint, Wani, who was then working as an Executive Magistrate on Covid duty, had complained that he was stopped by police and his driver beaten up at the place where he was posted for Magisterial duty with the police.

In a similar action, the government on Saturday terminated the services of a government teacher from Kupwara under the same provisions terming him a threat to the security of the state.

The action against the government employees has been condemned by the employees’ union. The Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) termed the government decision as unilateral.

“It is a partial decision and biased too, where an employee is dismissed from service and not allowed to put his point across or clear his stand. It is criminal to stop a person from speaking in his defence, against whom you have levelled such serious charge,” the EJAC said in a statement.