JAMMU, Dec 1: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has ruled that the migrant status of Kashmiri Pandit women remains unchanged even if they marry non-migrants. This decision upholds a previous order from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) favoring two women selected under the Prime Minister’s employment package.
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The two women, Seema Koul and Vishalni Koul, approached the high court in 2018 after their provisional selection for the position of legal assistant in the Department of Disaster Management Relief, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction under the PM package for Kashmiri migrants was revoked. This revocation stemmed from claims that their migrant status was lost due to their marriages to non-migrants.
“A vital question of public importance before this court is whether a woman who was granted migrant status due to the hardships faced by her and her family, which forced them to abandon their home in the Kashmir Valley, should lose that status simply because she marries a non-migrant,” stated a division bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Mohammad Yousuf Wani in a seven-page ruling last month.
“To decide otherwise would contradict the basic principles of humanity. The respondents, who are women that had no choice in leaving their native homes in Kashmir, should not be compelled to remain unmarried simply to secure employment in the Valley as migrants.” The court highlighted that due to the mass exodus, many migrant women may not find a match who is also a migrant.
The court further stated that to conclude that a woman would forfeit her migrant status merely because she opted to marry a non-migrant for personal reasons would be profoundly “discriminatory and counter to the essence of justice.”
“This discrimination is even more egregious when a male migrant continues to maintain his status as a migrant despite marrying a non-migrant. Such disparities arise from deeply rooted patriarchal norms. In terms of employment under the State/UT, this kind of discrimination cannot be tolerated,” the court ruled while dismissing a writ petition from the Union Territory challenging the May 16 CAT decision.
Currently, around 4,000 Kashmiri Pandit migrants are employed across various departments in Kashmir, following selections made under the PM employment package initiated in 2008. This package includes two significant components: the provision of 6,000 jobs for community youth and the allocation of 6,000 accommodation units for recruited personnel.
Describing the tribunal’s decision as “just and proper,” the court asserted that the argument raised by the appellant’s counsel regarding non-disclosure of marital status was irrelevant.
“The advertisement notice does not stipulate the cancellation of a candidate’s application due to non-disclosure or improper disclosure concerning marital status. Moreover, the appellants failed to demonstrate how any material injustice occurred to other candidates who could not be selected due to such non-disclosure. Thus, this argument is also dismissed,” the bench concluded. (Agencies)
