Civil Secretariat Employees Announce Strike From July 30

Srinagar:  The coordination committee of the Civil Secretariat Employees Union has said it will hold strike from Monday, July 30, against the government’s failure to resolve the issues the secretariat employees are facing.

A statement issued to GNS said that the Civil Secretariat Employees Union held a meeting on Tuesday at its office at Civil Secretariat here to discuss various issues of the employees.

The meeting according to the statement was chaired by the Union chairman Ghulam Rasool Mir and participated by President J&K Lower Grade Employees Union Maqbool  Hussain, President J&K Legislative Assembly Mukhtar Ahmad Wani and other representatives of the Union.

The core issues of the employees which have been pending since long and are still hanging in balance despite directions of authorities passed from time to time were discussed, the statement said.

The meeting observed that most of these issues have been agreed upon or approved by authorities.

The statement said, “The PAC/Finance Department has recommended/cleared the removal of pay anomaly/disparity in respect of clerical cadre and few other cadres which also stands approved by the then finance minister and later on by the Advisor (V) for placing before the SAC, but, the matter is being delayed due to known reasons which have created resentment among the employees of the state.”

It said the revocation of SRO-202 of 2015 and also the cadre review/career progression of planning, accounts and legal services and implementation of leftover recommendations of the cadre review committee in respect of secretariat subordinate services has also been approved. This included issuance of notification/restoration of slots for different feeding services and separate services on the analogy of private secretaries /ADOs.

Other approved issues include: Eviction of illegal occupants from estates government quarters at Srinagar/Jammu and their allotment to Darbar move employees; accord of priority in allotment of government accommodation in favour of female/handicapped move office employees; speeding up of construction work of government quarters/accommodation at identified places in Srinagar/Jammu.

During the course of the meeting, it was informed that some officers (administrative secretaries) do not cooperate with their subordinate employees at the time of their genuine casual leaves and earned leaves by deferring their sensation/ approval thereby causing unnecessary delay leading to mental harassment among the serving subordinate staff in the Civil Secretariat.

“It has been also observed that various employees including female employees of the Civil Secretariat are forced to attend office during holidays and also directed to sit during late hours without providing any transport facility, which is sheer injustice and violation of the Government Order No. 1584of GAD of 2017 dated 14-12-2017,” the statement said.

Further, it was emphasized that government is not serious about the issue of cancellation/detachment of attached staff who are still wording in various administrative departments through “proxy” despite standing orders from the government for their immediate detachment.

“This practice has created uncertainty and indiscipline in smooth functioning of the government business at the level of secretariat, besides putting burden on the state exchequer by way of incentives/hotel contractual who have been given sensitive assignment (s) in the secretariat thereby leaking secret/confidential matters in public domain,” the meeting said.

“All the above issues were put forth before the Governor, advisors to the Governor and Chief Secretary J&K but no concrete steps have been taken in this regard till now. In view of the above backdrop, the coordination committee has decided to proceed on strike form Monday, 30 July 2018,” the meeting observed. (GNS)