Officials found in breach of security of State to be dismissed; panel set up

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir government today set up a high level committee under Chief Secretary and laid down a set of rules to scrutinise and recommend the cases of dismissal from service of officials found in breach of security of the State.
In an indication of possible action against some officials found involved in anti-national activities, the government laid out procedure for invoking provision of Article 311(2)C of the Constitution of India –dismissing, removing from service or lowering the rank of an official without a regular inquiry when the appropriate authority is satisfied for the need of such an action.
The appropriate authority is the President of India or the Governor of the State, and in case of Jammu and Kashmir, this would obviously be the Lieutenant Governor.
The rights of the government officials against removal from service are protected by Article 311(2) of the Constitution of India which says that no person shall be dismissed...except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges”.
There are, however, three sub clauses in the Article 311(2) which offer exception to the above rule. The clause ‘c’ says that protection offered by Article 311(2) shall not apply “where the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that in the interest of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold such inquiry”.
Under proviso (c) to Article 311 (2), where the President, or the Governor, is satisfied that the retention of a person in public service is prejudicial to the security of the State, his services can be terminated without recourse to the normal procedure prescribed in Article 311 (2).The satisfaction referred to in the proviso is the subjective satisfaction of the President about the expediency of not giving an opportunity to the employee concerned in the interest of the security of the State. This clause does not require that reasons for the satisfaction should be recorded in writing.
To deal with cases requiring action on the basis of the security of the State, Jammu and Kashmir has constituted committee under Chief Secretary and comprising of Secretary of Home Department, Director General of Police, Secretary of General Administration Department, the Additional Director General of Police (CID) and Secretary of the Law Department.
The rules for invoking Article 311(2)c of the Constitution of India as laid down by Governor Order number 738-JK(GAD) of 2020, say, inter alia, the following:
a) The cases shall be referred by the Administrative Departments or Police Organization to the Home Department. On receipt of such report, the Home Department shall examine the case and upon satisfaction that the case meets the requirements of Article 311(2) (c), it shall place the case before the Committee.
b) The recommendations in respect of such cases shall be supported by relevant records which may include a copy of the interrogation report and other collateral evidence to justify dispensing with the holding of an inquiry in the interest of security of the State.
c) The Home Department shall place each case alongwith the recommendations of ADG, CID, J&K before the Committee.
d) Recommendations of the Committee shall be processed by the Administrative Secretary, Home Department for orders of the Competent Authority in terms of Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution of India.
e) Orders of dismissal shall be issued by the General Administration Department after the approval of the Competent Authority.
The government further ordered all pending cases to be decided in the aforementioned manner while asking all Departments to seek the advice of the Home Department before deciding the period of suspension of government employee whose dismissal orders are either quashed by the courts or who resume duty after detention.