Srinagar, Oct 15 (KNO): The SICOP Employees’ Union has challenged the classification of 591 employees as surplus, claiming that 297 vacant posts have been documented in an official file and seeking regularisation of long-serving employees.
As per details accessed by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the union has termed the classification administratively distorted and legally untenable, alleging that senior employees appointed before the government ban have been clubbed with those engaged during later periods.
The issue follows the government’s reply to a question by MLA Chander Prakash Ganga in the Legislative Assembly, in which the Industries and Commerce Department stated that SICOP has 591 surplus employees following the cessation of its Marketing Wing and Raw Material Depot activities.
The earlier government reply stated that SICOP has a sanctioned strength of 445 employees, including 128 permanent employees, while 317 posts are vacant. The 591 surplus employees have been engaged on 89-day arrangements.
Disputing the classification, the union said the management had documented 297 clear vacant posts in an official file under consideration in the Civil Secretariat. It said senior employees had been rendering services for 12 to 20 years and should not be treated as surplus without considering their service status and the available vacancies.
The union said these employees had been appointed before the government ban and their appointments had been cleared through the corporation’s 83rd and 84th Board of Directors’ resolutions.
A central argument raised by the union is that several employees appointed under the corporation’s 83rd and 84th Board of Directors’ (BoD) resolutions have already been regularised in the past. The union argues that treating the remaining staff from the same batches as “surplus” is arbitrary, discriminatory and a violation of established precedent.
It also referred to a Jammu and Kashmir High Court judgment, saying the court had recognised the service records of pre-ban employees and directed the authorities to consider their regularisation with consequential benefits within three months.
The union said the surplus classification should be reviewed in light of the court’s directions and the vacant posts it claims have been documented.
The union appealed to Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, who is also chairman of the corporation’s Board of Directors, to take cognisance of the issue and direct the authorities to expedite the regularisation file pending in the Civil Secretariat—(KNO)