Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 17: The High Court has quashed the guidelines prescribing the age limit to regulate the trade of photography in parks and gardens with the direction to the Government to relook at the guidelines and pass appropriate modification.
The petitioners are the registered photographers with the Tourism Department under the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Registration of Tourism Act and have been earning their livelihood by carrying out their professional activities in different tourist areas as shown in their respective registration certificates and are aggrieved of the order and guidelines issued by the Government by virtue of which the eligibility in respect of age was put as maximum to 60 years.
While the petitioners were carrying on such professional/ business activities, the authorities issued certain guidelines to regulate the trade of photography in the parks and gardens in 2018 prescribing the age of the photographers’ age upto 60 years to carry their skill of photography.
The counsel of aggrieved skilled men reiterated before the court that the guidelines are not only irrational but unreasonable and illogical too as the photography skill cannot be restricted to a particular age. He argued that persons above 60 years upto 70-80 years can click a photograph with utmost ease provided he is otherwise physically fit to do so.
“Admittedly, the impugned guidelines have been issued by the Government and the court cannot lose sight of the fact that the Government can place necessary restrictions for smooth functioning of a particular trade on the desired levels, however, such restrictions must not be unreasonable particularly when the same are aimed at to regulate the trade of unemployed skilled youth of a troubled area whose livelihood is dependent on such trade”, Justice Moksha Kazmi recorded.
Court on the conditions as laid down in the guidelines vis-à-vis the upper age limit and the deposition of annual fee of Rs. 10,000 said the same appear to be wholly unreasonable, in that, the skill cannot be restricted to a particular age especially in today’s advanced era and it does not further appear to be achieving any kind of object not to speak of a reasonable object.
Court with these reasons concluded that the condition in respect of upper age as mentioned in the Government Order as unreasonable, therefore, quashed the same with the direction to review the condition envisaging deposition of annual fee as the same is appearing to be harsh too.
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