More than 500 cases pending against JKPSC in HC, SC

Excelsior CorrespondentJAMMU, Nov 15: More than 500 cases are pending in High Court and Supreme Court� against the Jammu Kashmir Public Service Commission, which has already been in the eye of storm over no transparency in its system of� carrying recruitment� and conducting exams for different services,� including prestigious J&K Civil Services Exams.There are eight pending cases in the Supreme Court and� 500 in� J&K High Court while� JKPSC has spent� Rs 34,83,200 since 2014-15� on� contesting� these cases.The� amount being spent by JKPSC on contesting these cases has been excess to the annual legal budget since 2015-16. During the period of these three years, an excess amount of Rs 10,58,200 from the legal budget has been spent� so far.Information in this regard was secured in response to an RTI application by� Raman Sharma, an RTI activists.The reply reveals that� as on date,� JKPSC is facing 500 cases against it in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and 8 cases are also pending against it� in the Supreme Court of India.The� reply also states that� JKPSC has also moved to J&K High Court as petitioner in 15 cases and filed appeals in Supreme Court in 2 cases during the last 3 years.With regard to the fees spent Commission in contesting these cases before the� courts, the RTI reply discloses that an amount of Rs� 3,48,3200 has been paid by it as legal fees during the last 3 years whereas its budget sanction for legal expenses was only Rs 24,25,000.During the financial year 2016-17, the legal expenses of the Commission were double as compared to� its annual budget under relevant head (FY 2016-17) which was� Rs� 7.00 lakh� only whereas the Commission� spent� Rs� 14,70,300 to meet its legal expenses.Similarly, in the current financial year, JKPSC has so far spent 789500 as legal fees whereas the annual Legal Budget for 2017-18 is only Rs 5.25 lakh.