Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Feb 4: Decks have been cleared for appointment of seven District and Sessions Judges in the State, whose selection had been made in August last year after the Law Department has submitted all the necessary details requisitioned by the office of Governor, N N Vohra regarding the rules governing the appointment of these candidates.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR “immediately after receiving the communication, the Law Department set in motion the process for sending a detailed reply and the same stood submitted to the Raj Bhawan within the shortest possible time”, sources asserted. The entire legal position as well as the relevant provisions of the J&K Higher Judiciary Services Rules governing selection of District and Sessions Judges through direct quota has been explained in the written communication.
The Law Department had prepared a detailed note dwelling on the rules on the basis of which, the State Government had issued the selection list of candidates for the post of District Judges and forwarded to the office of Chief Secretary.
“The office of Chief Secretary after thorough deliberations had also promptly submitted the list to the Raj Bhawan recently”, sources asserted.
Though a case pertaining to the selection process is also pending before the Supreme Court, the Bench has permitted the State to issue the appointment orders for the selection of candidates subject to the outcome of the writ petition.
Earlier, the Governor’s office in a written communication had sought certain clarifications from the State Government on the J&K Higher Judiciary Services Rules.
The clarifications asked for by the Raj Bhawan assumed great significance in view of the fact that this Selection list had been into the thick of controversy ever since it was made public on August 13,2012. Besides several petitions challenging the selection list of District and Sessions Judges had been pending before the Supreme Court as well as State High Court. The selection list has been challenged on various grounds and the aggrieved parties even include several in-service Judges, who are of the opinion that they too were eligible for promotion as District and Sessions Judges under the direct quota as per the provisions of J&K Higher Judiciary Services Rules.
“Governor wanted to be sure that there were no lacunae in the selection process before putting his formal seal on the selection process”, said reliable sources.
As per the Rules, after Raj Bhawan put’s its seal on the final selection list, the Law Department shall promulgate the final list.
In a related development, the Supreme Bench comprising Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai today heard the arguments in the Writ Petition titled Zubair Ahmed Mir and Others Versus State of Jammu and Kashmir and Others.
The Bench directed the State High Court to provide the exact details of the vacancies for direct recruitment available for selection of District Judges when the advertisement for the same was first notified.
The Apex Court instructed the registry to list the case again on February 22 for the final arguments of the case.
Earlier, the petitioners Zubair Ahmed Mir and Others in their petition had submitted that the J&K Higher Judiciary Rules are contrary to the Apex Court directions including those given in All India Judges Versus Union of India case. They have termed Rule 5 and 8 as ambiguous.
It has also been submitted by the petitioners, who are the lawyers practicing in various courts of Jammu and Kashmir and could not clear interview for the Higher Judiciary (Direct Recruitment) Examination for the posts of District and Sessions Judges, that those candidates who secured good marks in written examination were given very less marks in the interviews while as those who could not perform well in the written test made it through in the interview.
They have also challenged the composition of the Selection Committee on the ground that the laid down guidelines state that there should be minimum three-member Selection Committee but there was only two member Selection Committee for the examination conducted in pursuance to Advertisement Notice 501 dated August 1, 2011.
In its order passed on December 14, 2012, the Supreme Court bench had stated that it would be open to the State and High Court of Jammu and Kashmir to appoint seven candidates selected for the posts of District and Sessions Judge (direct quota) on the basis of the selection test but their appointment shall abide by the final result of the writ petition.
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