Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 30: As the employees have not budged from their stand on starting five-day strike programme from tomorrow, State Government today invoked Essential Services (Mainte-nance) Ordinance, 2001 with the directions to all the Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Heads of Departments, Deputy Commissioners and other law enforcing agencies to strictly enforce the provisions of the Ordinance. The Government has also directed for maintaining biometric as well as manual attendance of the employees in the Civil Secretariat.
Giving a hoot to the Government announcement declaring strike as illegal and enforcing “No Work No Wages” on September 29, the employees bodies yesterday made it clear that they will not change their stand and continue with the proposed five-day strike programme from October 1 (tomorrow).
This prompted the Government to further adopt tough posture and today it was decided to invoke Essential Services (Maintenance) Ordinance, 2001 and SRO-1 of 2000 dated January 12, 2000 where under the Government has declared all the employment under the Government as essential within the meaning of the Ordinance.
Besides issuing written directions through the General Administration Department to all the Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners and Heads of Departments for strict enforcement of the ESMO, Chief Secretary, Mohd Iqbal Khandey also held video-conference with the Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners and made it clear that they will have to ensure strict enforcement of the ESMO.
“The Chief Secretary also expressed concern as to despite being aware of the ESMO provisions and the directions of Supreme Court of India as well as High Court no action was taken till date to ensure that employees don’t remain absent from their respective duties to join protest programmes on the appeals made by their unions”, sources said, “Mr Khandey told the Deputy Commissioners to strictly ensure that such practice is not continued by the employees”.
The Government has directed all the Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Heads of Departments /Deputy Commissioners to ensure that employees shall not depart from the place of their working during duty hours and any person without reasonable cause remaining absent from the work shall be dealt under the appropriate provisions of the Ordinance.
While drawing the attention towards various provisions of the Ordinance, the Government has conveyed to these officers that as per Section 7 of the Ordinance any person found guilty of offence under the Ordinance shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine.
“The Divisional Commissioners, all Heads of the Departments/District Magist-rates/Sub-District Magistrates are authorized to make complaint in terms of Section 7 of the Ordinance”, reads the communiqué issued by the General Administration Department.
Pointing towards the Cabinet Decision No.115/06/2010 dated April 5, 2010, sources said, “through this decision the Government had held all Heads of Offices personally responsible for checking the attendance of employees of their office and close the Attendance Register on daily basis but astonishingly there was little adherence to this directive”.
Similar was the fate of direction regarding constitution of inspection teams to monitor the attendance of employees on a daily basis and submit report to the Administrative Secretaries under intimation to the Treasury Officers wherefrom the employees are drawing their salaries, sources said.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary expressed his dismay over the obstinacy exhibited by employees union leaders regarding implementation of various demands. He said despite the best intentions of the Government to meet most of the demands of the employees and its further willingness to consider the remaining few demands in a time bound manner the leaders of the employees union have shown unwarranted rigidness and announced a strike programme thereby putting common masses to unnecessary inconvenience and trouble.
He has directed all Divisional, District and Police authorities to ensure that there is no picketing outside Government offices wherein few leaders of the employees union physically and forcibly prevent other employees from attending to their work. He said that all concerned authorities should ensure that those willing to work are actually able to work smoothly.
Chief Secretary has also directed the Secretaries to personally visit various offices during the hartal days to ascertain the situation and report the attendance of the employees so that immediate action is taken against those who would have absented themselves from the work illegally.
All the Administrative Secretaries have also been directed that besides maintaining biometric attendance they shall ensure that the mutual attendance register is also maintained in respect of the employees under their administrative control till further orders and submit details to the General Administration Department in accordance with the instructions already issued in this regard.
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