*Judiciary should desist from fueling controversies
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 3: Calling for utmost judicial restraint on sensitive matters, senior PDP leader and Member Parliament, Tariq Hameed Karra today said the judges should, instead of unnecessarily meddling in sensitive issues, uphold the established precedent handed down by the constitution and the legislature on such issues.
He said J&K’s special status including the status of the State flag is unquestionable and beyond the adjudication of the judiciary as the same has been guaranteed by the Constitution of India and ratified by the Parliament and the State’s Constituent Assembly.
Expressing dismay over the latest controversy fuelled by the judiciary over the issue of hoisting of the State Flag, Mr Karra said instead of reiterating the established constitutional pledge on the issue, the judiciary has triggered a superfluous controversy on a sensitive matter which is already settled in the Constitution and by the Parliament. “Unfortunately, the two divergent judgments by the J&K High Court on the State Flag issue are akin to how the judiciary had messed up the beef issue earlier,” he said and added that J&K’s special status is guaranteed and protected under the constitution and nobody can and should meddle in such sensitive matters and trigger unnecessary controversies.
“The recent High Court orders on State flag are a case in point where the judiciary should have taken a principled stand to leave the matter to the constitution instead of trying to fish in the troubled waters on a sensitive issue,” Mr Karra said and added that instead of resorting to judicial activism, the judges should exercise judicial restraint, especially on such delicate matters which have far-reaching implications.
Mr Karra said it is also to be seen what motivation somebody has to rush to the High Court in 2013 with a petition on the State flag issue, although the same is already settled in the constitution, by the Indian Parliament and the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. He said the State Flag has its own sanctity and it would continue to be treated with same sanctity irrespective of the inconsiderate and discordant judicial observations on the issue. The State has paid and is still paying a huge price by witnessing a tragic phase of death and destruction and it can’t afford further instability, he added.
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