The Jammu and Kashmir administration has terminated two government employees acting under the order been passed under the provisions of Article 311(2) (c) of the Indian Constitution. Assistant Professor Dr Abdul Bari Naik and revenue official Naib Tehsildar Nazir Ahmad Wani were terminated without inquiry, as allowed by the said order, citing “security of the state” as a reason.
The said order issued by the General Administration Department constituted a special task force headed by the J&K Additional Director General of Police, CID tasked with compiling records of employees suspected of activities threatening security of the state. Accordingly, these employees have been sacked without inquiry.
Naik was arrested in March in connection with a 2018 FIR against him, and he was branded absconding by the police while he was working as the Covid District In-charge in his home district and was in constant touch with the police. Before his arrest, he contested the 2014 election as an Independent from south Kashmir’s Kulgam, reported Indian Express.
Naik’s brother Rouf Naik told IE that his brother was a social and RTI activist, and was sacked for his crusade against corruption.
As per IE, Wani was arrested last year after police claimed to have found a “militant hideout” in a shop owned by him – an allegation his family denied. Reportedly, Wani had complained against the Senior Superintendent of Police, Pulwama, Ashish Mishra for “misuse and abuse” of power. 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.
Prior to this, the administration has terminated a government teacher from Kupwara under the same order. The Article 311(2) (c) of the Constitution obligates that no government employee can be dismissed until an inquiry is instituted against him but this clause can be waived off if “the President or the Governor” is satisfied that such inquiry is not expedient in the “interest of the security of the state”. This exception has been set in motion by the said order, and is now being used as a tool to terminate government employees, who have seemingly clashed with the administration for any reason.
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