Advocate Rakesh Tiku said, “I am truly appalled at the kind of news that is being circulated. How can one raise accusations against a government stating that it harbours hatred for a certain group or section of society? Litigation is a process, where every issue can have grievances which take time to get resolved. However, one thing is for sure – the incident that took place with regard to the Kashmiri teachers was highly unfortunate. They were displaced in 1994, and consistently begged for equal treatment as other government school teachers for some 16 years till 2010 – for retirement age, pension, regularisation etc. But none of these were ensured for these teachers. They would fulfil their duties and yet only earn one-third of the salaries they deserved. Five years down the line, in 2015, after a lot of arguments and counter arguments from both the government side and the teachers, the judge declared that Kashmiri teachers should be given the same benefits that are being enjoyed by all other government teachers.”
He added, “At the time, had the government agreed without any objection, the matter would have been resolved then and there. But that did not happen. The Services Department, which comes under Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, went ahead and challenged the decision issued by the judge. They stated that it was against the judgement of the Supreme Court, and if it goes unchallenged, the people will blame the Services Department. Hence it appealed to the Higher Court, which was dismissed after 3 years. And it is noteworthy that in those 3 years, the members in the Services Department changed lawyers, after which a formal AG was appointed by them and then too, the plea was dismissed. Even at that stage in 2018 had the LG’s Service Department given in and accepted the court’s judgement, the teachers would have received the justice they deserved.”
He continued “Back in August in 2018, Deputy CM Shri Manish Sisodia had issued a statement when he was approached by Kashmiri migrants with their grievances, demanding justice. He had issued written orders to withdraw all objection appeals from the High Court, and to implement the order to give equal rights and benefits to the Kashmiri migrants. However, unfortunately the LG’s Service Department did not concede and fought the case for several months. Even the Additional Solicitor General at the time took the government’s side. Despite it all, the Supreme Court ensured justice for those who deserved it. So, to say that the Delhi Government interfered in the process of Kashmiri migrants getting justice would be factually incorrect, and on the contrary to the record. All in all, the allegations made against the Kejriwal Government are both logically and factually incorrect, the delays were caused by the Services Department under the LG.”