Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Mar 13: Concer-ned over the pendency of cases, the High Court Collegium has recommended a panel comprising eight persons for their appointment as Judges and submitted the same to Governor, N N Vohra and the Union Law Ministry.
Reliable sources in the Union Law Ministry told EXCELSIOR, “the Collegium headed by the Chief Justice, N Paul Vasanthakumar after consultation with senior Judges has sent their confidential report to the Governor, Union Law Ministry and Supreme Court few days back”, adding, “in absence of an elected Chief Minister, the details weren’t shared with the State Law Department while as another copy was forwarded to the security agencies to verify the credentials of the persons on the panel”.
“The panel included six Advocates – three each from Jammu and Kashmir while the names of two senior Judicial Officers have also been included in the panel. The lawyers in the panel are Advocate Javed Kawoosa, Advocate M S Latif, Advocate Nasir Hussain Shah from Kashmir region and Advocate R K Gupta, Advocate G S Thakur and Advocate S K Shukla from Jammu region”, sources confirmed.
Two senior Judicial Officers, whose names have also been included, are Registrar General, M K Hanjura and former Registrar General, Kaneez Fatima, who is presently posted as member, J&K Sales Tax Tribunal.
Official sources, who are privy to the selection process pointed out, “the Raj Bhavan after due consultation with legal experts has forwarded the panel for appointment of Judges to the Union Law Ministry with certain observations.”
The role of Governor in the entire process has become more significant in the absence of elected Chief Minister and as head of a State. “Raj Bhavan was not happy over the fact that no consultation procedure was followed while recommending the names and number of written complaints against some of the members in the panel have been received by Raj Bhavan”, sources asserted.
Asked about the status of file, sources said, “Raj Bhavan has forwarded the file to the Union Law Ministry along with all the complaints received”, adding, “also appended were reports from the security agencies and in one case, the report submitted wasn’t favourable”.
Interestingly, two persons in the panel — S K Shukla and Javed Ahmad Kawoosa have made it for the second time to the panel recommended by High Court authorities. In January, 2014 also the HC Collegium headed by the then Chief Justice, M M Kumar had initiated the process for appointment of four new High Court Judges – two as Permanent Judges (Neeru Goswami and Sanjeev Shukla) and equal number as Additional Judges (Javed Ahmad Kawoosa and Nazir Ahmad Baig)”.
However, present Chief Justice of India, Justice T S Thakur, when consulted by the then CJI expressed some reservations about the names and suggested that they be sent back to the High Court.
Sources also pointed out, “in one case the security agencies have given adverse reports while as in case of another advocate from Jammu region, there are allegations of professional misconduct”.
The sanctioned strength of the J&K High Court is 17 Judges including Chief Justice, but presently there are only nine Judges and this has led to piling up of cases. Though, all Judges are working to their full capacity for expeditious disposal of cases, the situation has put lot of pressure as the working strength has been reduced to almost 50%.
At present, there are only eight Judges-Justice Moham-mad Yaqoob Mir, Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Justice Ali Mohd Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Bansi Lal Bhat, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal and Justice Bawa Singh Walia besides Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar.
The situation will worsen further within next few months as one more Judge of the High Court Justice Bansi Lal Bhat is scheduled to attain superannuation on April 18, 2016 following which the working strength will get further reduced to eight including Chief Justice, sources said while disclosing that J&K High Court never had full strength because of inordinate delay in appointment of new Judges.
In a related development, Justice R Sudhakar, Judge of Madras High Court is likely to be transferred as 1st Puisne Judge of J&K High Court.
At present Justice Moha-mmad Yaqoob Mir is the 1st Puisne Judge and upon transfer of Justice R Sudhakar the texture of Collegium in the High Court will get changed.
Concerned over pendency of cases in different courts of the State, Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar has been holding deliberations with judicial officers from across the State.
As per the official figures available, 4944 cases of 5 to 10 years old have been pending in different courts of Jammu province. Similarly, there are 687 cases whose disposal is pending during the period ranging between 10 to 15 years while as the number of more than 15 years old cases in Jammu province is 217.
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