Under Article 126 of J&K Constitution, the state government had dismissed employees from time to time. During the 2016 political unrest that was triggered after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani’s death, as many as 12 government employees were dismissed over charges of spearheading and participating in anti-India protests.
However, most of the government employees’ dismissal orders in the past, when J&K was a state, had been quashed by courts as the aggrieved petitioners disputed the procedure or called the inquiry as ‘flawed’.
Now, the UT government has invoked Clause (2) (c) of Article 311 that dispenses with the prerequisite of inquiry in the matters where the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that in the interest of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold such inquiry.
(Irfan Amin Malik is a journalist based in Kashmir and he tweets @irfanaminmalik.)
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