Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 5: After the recent verdict of the Apex Court directing the State Government to allow officiating arrangement at Special Scale strictly as per the judgment of the Single Bench of State High Court, the continuation of many officers at Special Secretaries/HODs level is at stake.
The dispute pertaining to the seniority of KAS officers is unsettled for the last six years as the State Government instead of implementing the KAS Rules 1979/2008 strictly preferred to keep it hanging due to various litigations.
When the impugned final seniority list, presently under challenge before the High Court, was held legally valid by Single Bench subject to certain changes like pushing down of 49 officers having been inducted without availability of slots and the reviewing of the cases of the petitioners under Rule 15(4) owing to availability of slots to their feeding services with effect from year 2004 to 2007, the Government instead of recasting of seniority preferred several LPAs & SLPs.
However, as per the latest Supreme Court order now even the temporary arrangement on officiating basis has to be strictly allowed as per the seniority upheld by the Single Bench, official sources said.
“The officers already posted as Special Secretaries/ HODs at important posts on the basis of impugned final seniority list are to be subjected to scrutiny to ascertain their actual entitlement in consonance with the judgment delivered by Justice Tashi Rabstan, who has laid down a principle that the officers having no slots cannot be inducted above the officers having slots”, sources informed.
The petitioners have already conveyed to the Government the list of 78 officers having been inducted without slots with effect from the year 2004 to 2007 and are now required to be pushed to the bottom.
“Though the case was listed before the DB of High Court two days back but due to the suspension of work, the advocates could not appear but the petitioners appeared personally and placed before the court the copy of the order passed by the Supreme Court”, sources said. Now, the case has been listed for February 12.
According to the reliable sources, several officers already occupying Special Secretaries/ HODs posts come under the purview of the Apex Court order and will have to be removed to accommodate the equal number from the petitioners, who have entitlement as per the order of Single Bench even for officiating purpose on temporary basis as held by the Apex Court till the matter is finally decided by High Court within 2 months.
Those who are to be pushed down include Y P Sharma, MD SC/ ST/ BC Corporation, Narinder Singh Bali, ADDC Kathua, Ch Rashid Inqlabi, Special Secretary, ARI & Training, Sheikh Arshad Ayoob, Special Secretary Home, Farooq Ahmed Shah, Deputy Commissioner Ramban, Shabnam Kamili, Special Secretary, G N Itoo, Mission Director ICDS, Aijaz Ahmed Bhat, Hashmat Ali Yatoo, Leena Padha, Special Secretary Agro and Vivek Sharma, ADDC Samba.
Those becoming eligible for being placed on officiating basis will include Samita Sethi, Joint Director Information, Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Excise Commissioner Executive, Tanveer Iqbal, Joint Registrar Cooperative, Mehmood Ahmed Shah, RTO Srinagar, Inderjeet, ADC Samba, M Surya Jabeen, CEO JUDA, Nawab Din, District Program Officer ICDS Reasi, Dr.Bharat Bhushan, CEO Sarthal Mansar Development Authority, Dr. Nirupa Rai, Joint Director Tourism, Ashok Kumar, CEO Poonch Development Authority, Babu Ram, Additional Secretary Social Welfare, Rajesh Shavan, Regional Director Land Records and Surveys Jammu and Rakesh Kumar Sarangal, Additional CEO.
“Many officers who are holding posts on ex-cadre basis will also be effected as the Government has taken a stand before the Supreme Court that it cannot allow these posts to be held by ex-cadre officers and therefore sought permission to make temporary arrangement from among the KAS list”, sources said.
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