J&K administration revokes suspension of lecturer who appeared before SC in Art 370 case

The Supreme Court had last week raised concern about the suspension and asked the Attorney General and the Solicitor General to look into the matter.

Alok Kumar, principal secretary, Education, J&K, said in an order issued on Saturday that “having regard to the attending circumstances and after careful deliberation”, the government order issued on August 25 suspending Bhat was withdrawn.

The August 25 suspension order came after Bhat, a political science lecturer, appeared in the Supreme Court on August 23 as petitioner-in person during the hearing of a petition challenging the abrogation of Article 370. The order had said that Bhat was being suspended for “violations of provisions of J&K CSR, Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees (conduct) rules 1971, J&K Leave Rules”.

Last week, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal raised the issue of Bhat’s suspension in the Supreme Court, after which Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud asked Attorney General R Venkata Ramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to look into the matter and to speak to J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha about it.

The order suspending Bhat had also called for a departmental inquiry into his conduct, and during the inquiry, Bhat made the case to the inquiry officer that he had taken leave ahead of his court appearance and that he had prior permission from the department to leave station.

Following the completion of the inquiry, the administration revoked his suspension, and on Sunday, it issued another order directing Bhat to rejoin his original posting at the Government Higher Secondary School, Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar. Bhat teaches Political Science to class 11 and 12 students.

A resident of Chadoora village in central Kashmir’s Budgam, Bhat has a Masters in Political Science from Indira Gandhi National Open University, as well as a Masters in Economics. In 2016, he joined Kashmir University’s Law department as an ‘in-service candidate’ and completed his three-year law degree.

He had also been the coordinator as well as the nodal officer for the Chief Minister’s Super 50 – a coaching programme started by the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, for the aspirants of civil services at state and national level.