The Jammu Kashmir administration has served a notice to an employee of the Forest Department employee for criticizing the power development department for the ongoing power crisis in the Kashmir valley.
The Hindu reported that an employee of the Forest Department, who holds the rank of a head assistant, has been served a notice and asked to explain his position within three days.
The Government employee had uploaded the video to Facebook.
As per officials quoted by the news report, the employee had shared a video criticizing the administration for enhancing electricity charges.
“Besides, you also criticize the administration for school children not attending the online classes due to shortage of electricity. The act of the employee amounted to “misconduct and violation of Section 18 of J&K Government Employees (Conduct Rules) 1971”, the notice read.
Amidst the shivering cold, as the temperatures are dropping drastically across Kashmir, the valley is witnessing frequent power cuts, like every year, which has caused widespread grief among the people.
The prevailing power crisis from down South to up north, including the rural and urban areas of Kashmir, has left people distraught.
Residents of the valley complain that they are paying normal fees, taxes and bills, yet the electricity they are receiving is minimal.
Earlier a Kashmiri man was jailed after he told Lieutenant Governor’s advisor that he has no expectations from officers who are not locals.
In March this year, an order was issued by Commissioner-Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), Manoj Dwivedi mentioning that “the employees in public departments will need to disclose their biographic details as well as social media accounts, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram”.
In April, the Jammu Kashmir administration created STF (Special task Force) which will engage with members of the Terror Monitoring Group (TMG). The task force will scrutinize cases in a time-bound manner and will be serviced by the criminal investigation.
Dozens of employees including teachers have been terminated since then.
Later in September, The administration made vigilance clearance mandatory for obtaining a passport by a government employee, stating that the current system does not contain any mechanism to deny passport to employees under suspension or facing departmental inquiry or prosecution on account of serious charges.