Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 6: In a stern move, a court in Anantnag, summoned the Commissioner/Secretary Irrigation and Flood Control Department over the department’s failure to execute court decrees pending for more than four years.
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The Court of the Principal District Judge, Anantnag, has also ordered the attachment of salaries of several senior engineers for non-payment of decreed amounts.
The orders were passed by Principal District Judge Tahir Khurshid Raina, while hearing a batch of four long-pending execution petitions related to recovery of amounts decreed in favour of several individuals from J&K.
Taking a serious view of the prolonged delay, the court observed that the officers had been “simply passing the buck” for years and issued a show-cause notice to the Commissioner/ Secretary.
He has been directed to appear in person on November 17, 2025, to explain why he should not be detained in civil prison for non-satisfaction of the decrees.
The court also ordered attachment of monthly salaries of the Chief Engineer, Superintending Engineer and Executive Engineer of the department.
Treasury officers have been directed to deduct their salaries-retaining only a subsistence allowance-and deposit the amounts in court until the decreed sums are fully recovered.
The petitions-filed between 2021 and 2022-include cases titled Arif Hameed Ganie & Another vs UT of J&K & Others, Mohammad Iqbal Bhat & Others vs UT of J&K & Others, Mohammad Ayoub Ganie & Another vs UT of J&K & Others, and Mohammad Iqbal Bhat vs UT of J&K & Others.
While Advocate Hashim Nazir Malik represented the decree-holders, Standing Counsel Wahid Abdullah appeared for the Government and its officers.
All these officers have been directed to remain personally present before the court on the next hearing date.
Calling out bureaucratic apathy, the court remarked that “obtaining a decree is the easiest part of litigation, but its execution is the most difficult,” noting that courts must act as “sentinels on the qui vive” to ensure compliance with judicial orders.
The ruling comes in line with recent Supreme Court directives urging courts across India to dispose of execution petitions within six months, as part of a broader effort to strengthen the enforcement of judicial decrees.
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