Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 15: The High Court has stayed the order of Jammu and Kashmir State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development (JKSCARD) bank directing payment of only 40 percent salary of its employees for the Kashmir division.
The petitioner-employees being the permanent employees of the bank suffer an adverse direction with respect to their monthly salary as the Managing Director of the bank in-terms of its order date December 22 has directed payment of only 40 percent salary to them.
The order passed by the MD of the bank is purportedly acting upon the directions of the Administrator for specifically Kashmir division only.
Justice Rahul Bharti while staying the said order said it does not make any sense as to on what basis and reasons the Managing Director has resorted to such a course of action.
“In the meantime, the operation of the impugned order no. 39 of 2023 dated 22.12.2023 read with communication no. Adm 3713-16 dated 20.12.2023 of the Administrator of the bank shall remain stayed and there shall be no deduction with respect to the salary of the petitioners or for that matter of other employees of the bank of Kashmir division”, read the direction.
The employees of the bank submitted before the court that the reduction of their salaries amounts to infliction of major punishment whereas the same has been done without any fault of the employees, it is unreasonable to hold them responsible for the losses incurred by the Bank when they are discharging their duties with due diligence and to the best of their abilities.
It was further contended that such an immense penalty could only be imposed if the employees had been at fault and if substantial mistakes were made by them intentionally but there is no such basis for the impugned order being passed and thus, the order is not only cruel to the loyal employees of the Bank but also illegal and against natural justice.
The salaries of the some of the employees were withheld last year and then released partly, which subjected the families of those employees to much agony and suffering.
“In the present situation also, petitioners are distressed because of the impugned orders whereby salary is again being withheld which would put a strain on their financial conditions as the petitioners are receiving meagre salaries only under the 5th Pay Commission, the 6th and 7th Pay Commission having not been made applicable to them as yet”, read the plea of the employees.
The senior counsel M Y Bhat contended the impugned Order provides salary cuts only for the employees of the Kashmir Division, while no such directions have been issued for the employees working in the rest of the areas of the UT, which shows that the authorities are prejudiced against the employees of Kashmir Division.
The Bank has incurred loss both in the Kashmir Division and Jammu Province, and as per the plea therefore there is no justification in treating the employees of Kashmir Division with remorseless intolerance and making them bear the brunt of the financial loss faced by the bank while their counterparts in the other areas of UT are not being affected by the same and are continuing their duties ordinarily and receiving their due salaries.
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