The Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has resolved to create a document containing information on employees who partake in strikes that blatantly contravene the Government Employees (Conduct) Rules. Additionally, departments will be held responsible for any inaction by officers in cases where such strikes occur.
According to official sources, during a recent high-level meeting, Chief Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta noted that even though the Government has taken a supportive approach towards employees, certain vested interests are inciting them to participate in strikes. As a result, the government has decided to monitor these strikes closely.
Sources have stated that departments will be held responsible for any inaction on the part of authorities where such strikes take place, and employees who engage in disruptive behavior will also face consequences. Furthermore, the Chief Secretary has given orders to create a file containing a comprehensive record of employee participation in strikes that breach the Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees (Conduct) Rules.
Sources have reported that the government has adopted a supportive approach towards employees and will address their legitimate demands. Consequently, employees are expected to inform relevant authorities about any genuine grievances regularly, and those authorities are expected to address those issues promptly. If necessary, these issues should be escalated to higher authorities. The Chief Secretary has instructed all departments to conduct departmental promotion committees regularly and address other human resource concerns in a timely fashion.
It is pertinent to mention here that Rule 20 of the J&K Government Employees (Conduct) Rules states: “No Government employee shall engage himself or participate in any demonstration which is prejudicial to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order, decency or morality, or which involves contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence and resort to or in any way abet any form of strike in connection with any matter pertaining to his service or the service of any other Government employee”. “Government employees who resort to strike will face disciplinary action”, the Rule 20 further read.
In the Rule, strike has been defined as mass abstention from work without permission; refusal to work overtime; resort to practices or conduct which is likely to result in or results in the cessation or substantial retardation of work in any organization and such practices are called go-slow, sit-down, pen-down, stay-in, token, dharna and hunger strike.
Meanwhile, the Government has directed all the departments to ensure that transfer window will remain open from April 1 to April 30 beyond which no transfer request shall be considered without the prior approval of the Chief Secretary.
“In order to ensure strict compliance of these directives several departments have already asked their employees who are eligible for transfer to submit formal applications on the dedicated emails or portals instead of personally approaching the Heads of the Departments or the Administrative Secretaries concerned”, sources said.
Moreover, the Government has directed the General Administration Department to have the audit of e-HRM (Human Resource Management) System completed on priority and respective departments have been told to ensure timely rectification of the identified deficiencies.
Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has decided to carry out changes in the Employees Performance Monitoring format as per the requirements of the departments and keeping in view deliverables assigned to them.
According to the sources, the Government has also directed that the Annual Performance Reports pending with officers at different levels be completed by March 31, 2023 and no officer to sign/accept out-dated APRs or record comments in any APR for the period earlier than 2020-21.
“Failure to comply with these directions would invite adverse remarks in the APRs of the officer”, read the instructions issued by the Chief Secretary.
