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| SRTC denies 3-yr salary to driver despite warrants against officials | | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Feb 4: Arrest warrants are issued against government officials in rare cases so that they come up to the expectations of court and take concrete steps to address the issue which formed the basis for issuance of such warrants.
In a typical case arrest warrants were issued against some of the officials of State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) since they forced a driver of the Corporation to run from pillar to post while seeking justice in form of dues that were due to him for more than three years.
Acting on a complaint of Mohammad Yaqoob, a driver, a local court on July 1, 2013 issued warrants against five officials of the SRTC in the case of 'denial' of salary to Yaqoob for 40 months. Despite the lapse of more than two and half years the justice has been denied to the driver.
Warrants were issued against S K Tandon (then Managing Director SRTC), Farooq Ahmad (then Traffic Manager, Loads SRTC), Fayaz Ahmad (then General Manager, Administration SRTC), Zahoor Ahmad (then NTS SRTC) and then Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer, SRTC.
The warrants were issued by Javed Ahmad Naik, then 1st Additional Munsiff Srinagar. The Munsiff directed Station House Officer of Kothi Bagh Police Station to execute the warrants and said that if the people against whom the warrants have been issued pay Rs. 7,000 each, then they should be freed.
The issuance of warrants against the officials was done to ensure that justice is done to Yaqoob since he was deprived of pay for months during the period of November 2008 and February 2012. However, the 'motive' of issuing the warrants was lost since the SRTC driver continues to be without the salary of the period mentioned.
Interestingly, most of the officials against whom the warrants were issued have retired from SRTC, but the hapless driver continues to be denied the service benefits in the form of salary of 40 months. He can be seen running from one end to other in order to seek justice, but the same has eluded him so far.
In November 2008 Yaqoob went to the court challenging his transfer from TSD Srinagar to Cargo Parimpora (Load Division). It took the SRTC higher ups more than three years to 'respond' to the case and it was in March 2012 the case was ultimately 'settled'.
On March 7, 2012, a local court here while pronouncing judgment in the case of this driver said that he would join his new place of posting on March 18, 2012. The judge namely Manzoor Ahmad Zargar directed the SRTC authorities to ensure that Yaqoob is transferred back to TSD Srinagar after a gap of one month.
The court also ordered that all the dues pending to the driver should be paid to him at the earliest and in this regard he is at liberty to approach any officer of the corporation with a written application.
The SRTC higher ups started paying salary to Yaqoob on regular basis once he rejoined his duties in March 2012. Although, almost four years have passed since then, the pending salary has not been released so far.
"Despite the court issuing an order in my favour the pending salary has not been released in my favour. This is sheer injustice and I have become a victim of dictatorial policies of the corporation higher ups. My salary for the 40 months from November 2008 to February 2012 has been kept withheld by the corporation for the reasons best known to them," said Yaqoob while talking to Early Times.
Yaqoob said that he got targeted when he exposed the oil 'scam' in the corporation adding that since then he has been victimized. He said that he got know about the scam when he went to higher ups that he saved some oil adding that they told him to ignore the matter and show the un-spent oil as spent.
"I had availed a housing loan and same could not be re-payed since I was suspended from the services. I was forced to abolish one of the insurance policies of my daughter in order to carry out the daily chores of life. I became a patient due to the wrong policies of the people at helm and at present I have to spend Rs. 5,000 on medicines on monthly basis," said Yaqoob. |
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