Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 7: The Jammu and Kashmir Electrical Engineering Graduates Association (JKEEGA) led by its general secretary Sachin Tickoo, held a meeting of its Executive Council here in Jammu in which members Kuldeep Dalia (Senior vice president), Shiv Raj Sharma, Jahangir Hussain, Gulshan Bhagat, Rajeshwar Jamwal, Yash Paul Parshottam Lal Sharma (vice president’s), Vishal Singh Chib, Ankush Sharma, Ankush Gupta, Ajaz Chowdhary (Provincial secretaries) and others participated.
The executive body while reviewing the progress of the issues projected before the Government particularly with respect to the re-instatement of the Gazetted Engineers numbering 4 from JPDCL and 3 from KPDCL.
It is pertinent to mention that aforesaid engineers had been suspended on account of poor billing / collection efficiency in their respective areas of jurisdiction, without taking into account the terrain, infrastructure, and manpower constraints in their areas and have been put under prolonged suspension exceeding more than 6 months now. The said officers have been religiously working at their places and making all efforts to improve the Revenue billing/collection efficiency. The testimony in this regard has been the recommendations for reinstatement of these engineers made by the respective Managing Directors of the Corporations.
As per the Supreme Court judgments in this regard and in Ajay Kumar Choudhary vs. Union of India the Apex Court has held that the currency of a suspension order should not extend beyond three months if within this period the Memorandum of Charges/Charge sheet is not served on the delinquent officer/employee; if the Memorandum of Charges/Charge sheet is served a reasoned order must be passed for the extension of the suspension.
The prolonged suspension was held to be arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India. The members appealed to the Chief Secretary J&K and Principal Secretary PDD to reinstate the engineers.
The Association has been patiently pursuing at all levels for pleading their case of reinstatement and hence it was decided If the suspension is not revoked in the next 15 days, the association shall be forced to take upon an agitation mode.
They said vacancies 13 SEs, 67 XEns, 109 AEEs, 350 JEs are lying vacant. The scores of positions are being manned on additional charge basis. The Executive Engineers and Superintending Engineers are finding it hard to manage their presence at multiple places due to the multiple charges.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
