The Kashmiri Pandit Teachers’ Association on Monday strongly criticized the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for taking credit for regularizing the services of Kashmiri migrant teachers.
“We strongly condemn the statement made by the Delhi government that the services of Kashmiri migrant teachers were regularised,” said a statement issued by the Government School Teachers Association (Pravasi).
The teachers’ body claimed that the Delhi government tried to obstruct their service regularization.
In the statement, the teachers’ body listed a timeline of events that led to regularization of their services in Delhi.
Read | Arvind Kejriwal on Kashmir Files: Kashmiri Pandits need rehabilitation, not film
The teachers’ body claimed that they had approached the Delhi High Court on June 6, 2010. A single bench of the Delhi High Court ruled in his favor after five years in 2015 by regularizing his services.
The teachers’ body had then claimed that the same decision was challenged by the Delhi government in a two-judge bench of the HC. On May 21, 2018, the Bench delivered the judgment which directed the Delhi government to regularize the services of Kashmiri Pandits.
The teachers’ body further claimed that after the HC order was ruled in their favour, the Delhi government had then moved the Supreme Court. The apex court dismissed the Delhi government’s plea in 2018, after which the services of Kashmiri Pandit teachers were regularized in 2019.
“The above incidents clearly indicate that the Delhi government was never interested in regularizing the services of Kashmiri Pandit teachers. In fact, the Delhi government opposed regularization till the end,” the statement said.
On 24 March, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, in the assembly session, hit out at the BJP over their demand to make The Kashmir Files tax-free in the state.
Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, The Kashmir Files portrays the plight of Kashmiri Pandits who had to flee the Valley in the 1990s following the rise of the Kashmir insurgency. The film has been declared tax free in many BJP ruled states.
Read also | This is dirty talk: Kejriwal targeted BJP, said – politics should not be done on Kashmiri Pandits