J&K Govt to conduct CID verification of all employees appointed after May 2018 [details]

After terminating services of some terror-friendly government servants under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution of India, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has decided to conduct verification of all employees appointed after May 2018 by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) wing of J&K Police.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang Pole on Friday has directed all the ten Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of the Kashmir division to ensure CID verification of new appointees as per the directions of the J&K government.

The DCs have been directed to complete these verifications as early as possible. The government has decided to conduct verification of all newly appointed employees after getting information that some anti-national elements have managed to get government jobs in Kashmir with the influence of some separatist leaders.

J&K government has already amended service rules

To check "infiltration" of anti-national elements in government departments, the Jammu and Kashmir government has already amended service rules which mandate that for those who join government services, their credentials must be verified by the CID wing of J&K Police.

These amendments have been done in the service rules check credentials of all new appointees in different government departments.

As per the rule, the new entrants into government service have to furnish details like e-mail addresses, social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

"In terms of government order of 1918-GAD of 1997 dated 09.12.1997, read with government order No. 1328-GAD of 2016 dated 07.12.2016, security clearance from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been made mandatory for drawing salary and allowances of new entrants into government service," the order issued by government mentioned.

In case of failure to do so, the candidates will forego their right to appointment. In respect of selection lists already published, the period of 21 days will be reckoned from the notification of these instructions.

Over two dozen terror friendly employees already sacked

After constituting a panel to single-out terror friendly employees in April 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir government has already sacked over two dozen government servants for their involvement in terror activities.

In July 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir government had sacked 11 employees including two sons of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen's self-styled 'supreme commander' Sayeed Salahuddin.

Two sons of Sayeed Salahuddin namely Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf were sacked from government service after the panel had established their involvement in terror funding. Since April this year, the J&K government has dismissed 21 employees under this Act. Some employees have challenged this termination in the courts.

In April this year, the Lieutenant Governor's administration had sacked a naib-Tehsildar, Nazir Ahmad Wani, who was also involved in anti-India activities. Invoking this Article, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had earlier dismissed Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh from services "in the interest of the security of the state".

In September 2021, the J&K government had sacked six more terror-friendly employees. These employees were working as overground workers (OGWs) for various terror outfits active in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Those terminating from government services included two constables of Jammu and Kashmir Police and their direct involvement in the terror activities have been established by the investigating agencies.

As reported earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir government, on April 2021, had announced the formation of a Special Task Force (STF) to identify and scrutinize government employees with links to activities that pose threat to national security.

The SFT is headed by J&K's intelligence chief, who served for a decade in the Research and Analysis Wing before returning to J&K. The panel has been assigned the job to compile records of such employees and refer the same to the committee already constituted in July 2020. The panel has also engaged other members of the Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) in identifying such other employees.