Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) and High Court Bar Association (HCBA), have strongly opposed the Indian government’s move of shifting the services matters of the employees in the territory to Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Chandigarh, India, for redressal of their grievances.
The EJAC President, Fayaz Ahmed Shabnam, in a statement issued in Srinagar termed the move quite unfortunate and said that such an order was totally unjustified and was unacceptable to the employees of the occupied territory.
He said that such an order was unwarranted and would further complicate the situation of thousands of employees whose cases were pending in courts for a very long time.
“Such an order will not only delay justice to the employees but will also be too costly for the employees as the majority of the service related cases belong to the lower ranked employees and daily wagers who on a meager salary hardly make their two ends meet” he said.
Shabnam also pointed out that Srinagar-Jammu highway is usually closed for most of the time due to landslides or other issues and the airplane tickets are skyrocketing and thus in such a scenario to reach the Tribunal on a given date or time will be almost impossible for the employees.
He urged the Indian government to revoke the order and instead establish the tribunal in occupied Kashmir so that the employees would get speedy and cost effective justice.
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of HCBA at a meeting held through teleconferencing said that the move would create hardships for the employees of occupied Kashmir seeking dispensation of justice.
The location of the tribunal at Chandigarh would generally deprive all classes of employs from getting their grievances redressed due to incurring of heavy expenses in proceeding to Chandigarh and hiring legal services would be beyond their means outside occupied Kashmir and it would result in complete denial of the right to approach the court for redressal of their grievances, the HCBA members said.
They impressed upon the authorities to provide circuit benches for dealing with service matters at Srinagar so as to mitigate the sufferings of service class.
The CAT Chandigarh will deal with matters like services, employment, pension etc.
Earlier, the services matters of the government employees of occupied Kashmir were being adjudicated by Kashmir and Jammu wings of High Court of the territory.—KMS
