Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 30: Resenting the Government decision of shifting all service matters of employees of J&K to Chandigarh CAT, the JK Bar Association (JKBA) Srinagar and Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) have demanded circuit benches here.
The Executive Committee of the JKBA Srinagar, in its teleconferencing meeting held today, took note of issuance of notification in this regard and said that it would result in the filing of the fresh service matters before the service tribunal located at Chandigarh and transfer of all pending service matters in the HC of Jammu and Kashmir to tribunal constituted at Chandigarh.
The issuance of notification will result in multiple hardships of the employees who seek dispensation of justice, the JKBA said and explained that the location of the tribunal at Chandigarh would generally deprive all classes of employees of getting their grievances redressed due to incurring heavy expenses in proceeding to Chandigarh.
“Hiring legal services would be beyond their means outside J&K, which would result in complete denial of the right to approach the court for ventilation of their grievances,” JKBA said and suggested impressing upon the authorities to provide circuit benches for dealing with service matters at J&K Srinagar so as to mitigate the sufferings of service class.
EJAC has strongly opposed the order of the Central Government and according to a statement by EJAC President Fayaz Ahmad Shabnam, such an order is totally unjustified and unacceptable to the employees of the JK.
He said that such an order will further complicate the situation of the thousands of employees whose cases are 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 class IV employees and daily wagers who on a meager salary hardly make their two ends meet” he said.
Fayaz Ahmad Shabnam also highlighted that the Jammu- Srinagar highway remains 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 Central Government to revoke the order and instead establish the tribunal in JK so that the employees may get speedy and cost effective justice.
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