Srinagar, Jun 24, KDC: A group of similarly situated government college employees, recruited under a uniform fast-track selection process, has been artificially split by the Jammu and Kashmir Higher Education Department to subject Chowkidars to grueling 18-hour shifts without weekly offs while others enjoy six-hour workdays and regular holidays, a petition filed before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has alleged.
The original application, moved by lead petitioner Faizan Ahmad Shah and eight other aggrieved Chowkidars through Advocate Ishtiyaq Ahmad Mir, challenges the non-implementation of a binding statutory notification (S.O. 133) that was explicitly designed to overhaul and unify the Class-IV service structure across the Union Territory.
According to the petition, the applicants were appointed under a uniform fast-track recruitment process advertised by the J&K Services Selection Board (Notification No. 01 of 2020) and posted across various Government Degree Colleges.
However, the petition notes that the actual allocation of their administrative nomenclatures was done in an arbitrary, non-uniform, and opaque manner, dividing a homogenous class of appointees into parallel designations like ‘Chowkidars’ and ‘Library Bearers’.
“The applicants designated as Chowkidars are being subjected to excessively onerous working conditions, wherein they are accountable up to 18 hours per day, and in several instances are required to remain on continuous duty even during Sundays and gazetted holidays, without any provision of weekly off or structured rest period,” the petition reads.
In contrast, the plea states that fellow colleagues selected under the exact same recruitment notification are assigned a substantial workload reduction, with restricted duty hours of approximately six hours per day, along with regular weekly offs and full entitlement to holidays. This stark imbalance, according to the petitioners, has taken a severe toll on the physical and mental health of the aggrieved Chowkidars.
The legal core of the case relies heavily on S.O. 133 issued on March 29, 2022, by the General Administration Department. The policy directive statutorily merged and restructured the Class-IV cadre across Jammu and Kashmir, re-designating them uniformly as Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS).
The petitioners contend that the notification has a clear binding statutory mandate that leaves no room for individual departments to continue with archaic classifications. Yet, the Higher Education Department allegedly issued a final seniority list on July 15, 2025, which selectively continued reflecting the outdated “Chowkidar” and “Library Bearer” descriptions.
Furthermore, the plea aggressively challenges the department’s executive bypass of the law, noting that instead of executing the rules, the respondents set up an administrative committee under Order No. 69/DC-HE of 2024 to review post nomenclatures.
The petition said that the foundational issue is already res integra (concluded), citing a prior ruling by the CAT Srinagar Bench in Ashiq Hussain Malla v. UT of J&K & Ors. (O.A. 570/2025). In that judgment delivered on December 23, 2025, a Division Bench quashed similar district-wise seniority structures in the Sheep Husbandry Department, observing that, “Undoubtedly, the object of this SO is to eliminate artificial and outdated distinctions among similarly placed employees of Class-IV… the respondents have continued to reflect earlier designations while fixing seniority. Such an approach defeats the very purpose of the redesignation exercise.”
Seeking immediate parity with other transitioned departments, the petitioners have prayed for the quashing of both the July 2025 seniority list and the August 2024 order constituting the review committee.
They are demanding a unified rotational duty system to put an end to the unregulated working hours and officially assign them the uniform designation of MTS.
The matter has been formally scheduled in the cause list for its subsequent hearing on September 2, 2026, with the tribunal granting six weeks to the Deputy Advocate General, Syed Musaib, to file a comprehensive response. In the interim, the higher education department has been strictly instructed to evaluate the representation of these employees in light of S.O. 133. (KDC)
