Veenu Gupta
Change in constitutional position of Jammu and Kashmir brought with it many necessary and some avoidable complications for Judicial System in newly formed Union Territory. While change in laws and repealing of some erstwhile state laws and extending Central laws were necessities . Same could be said about Applications of Constitutional Provisions which had not been applied because of apparent maladies by successive political regimes of the state . The will of people always was to be part of national mainstream but the rulers had their own political motives .
But situation doesn’t end here. Some avoidable situations have come into existence which have caused lot of distress and problems for local population. Lawyers of Jammu Provinve are on confrontation mode for last about one month which got created because situation couldn’t be properly analyzed and dealt by Administration. A small problem which could have been settled with proper location of Registration Offices have been allowed to blow into a crisis leading to virtual closure of Judicial System in the whole Province . Closing of Court Doors and not allowing clients free access to courts by some agitating lawyers, however, is undefendable and it reflects upon weakness of Court Administration for not ensuring free flow of litigants in courts .
With High Court having already issued list of more than 16000 cases which are likely to be shifted to Central Administrative Tribunals, another big problem has come up which needs immediate concern and apt handling . With expected number of cases to be shifted around 50000 including contempt and misc applications, it will amount to taking almost one third of total number of cases pending in High Court or even more . Is the system ready for such a huge impact?
Central Administrative Tribunals gets jurisdiction over the employees of Union Territory which in case of State was not available and which becomes available now as employees of Union Territory are falling under jurisdiction of Central Administrative Tribunal Act . Are we really ready for the big shift ?
To deal with such huge number of cases, we need atleast five benches of Central Administrative Tribunals ( CAT for short ) in Jammu and Kashmir only . Presently there is not even a single permanent bench of CAT here though there are large number of cases of Central Govt Civil Employees and it had been repeatedly agitated that there should be permanent bench in Jammu Kashmir of CAT to deal with service cases of Central Govt employees but it had fallen on deaf ears so far .
Present strength of members in CAT doesn’t permit so many benches to be given to Jammu and Kashmir and to meet the situation,large scale recruitment and appointments are needed for creation of required benches which is fairly time consuming . It will be total commotion if some remedial measures are not taken immediately. May be we need amendment in the Main Act to deal with situation by deferring its application to new Union Territory till the infrastructure is created .
Another important situation will be where to house CAT benches as the number of cases going will mean atleast 300 to 500 advocates will have to permanently move to a place where CAT will sit . Required infrastructure will be huge and presently there is no such place which can accommodate such huge influx of advocates , litigants, security , vehicle etc . Adjusting CAT benches in high court complex itself can be temporary answer till proper infrastructure is created but it is doubtful whether High Court will show magnanimity in giving its land and building for CAT when it is short of space for itself .
If things are thrust upon by force and CAT benches are shifted to some small space without required Infrastructure it will lead to multiple problems and will make working of system difficult. There will be no less than 500 cases listed each day and that’s quite high .
Another side of coin is the statement/promise made by the Home Minister on the floor of Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir will be a State again . For the system to move and get settled will take atleast a year and if Jammu and Kashmir has again to become State then all these cases will be shifted back to High Court as CAT will lose jurisdiction on employees of state govt then it will take another one year to get cases resettled . The promise of Reversion back to state needs a pragmatic view to be taken for keeping jurisdiction of High Court in case of employees of JK Union Territory as it may be an exercise in futility in long run .
(The author is Advocate J&K High Court)
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