Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 21: In response to the file seeking approval for appointment of recently selected seven District and Sessions Judges, Governor N N Vohra has sought certain clarifications from the State Government on the J&K Higher Judiciary Services Rules.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that Governor has returned the file to the Law Department seeking clarifications particularly with regard to the Rules governing the selection of District and Sessions Judges through direct quota.
“The Governor wanted to be sure that there is no lacuna in the appointment of these seven selected candidates as District and Sessions Judges as the selection list remained under cloud ever since it was first announced”, sources said.
“Soon after getting the file from the Raj Bhawan, the Law Department set in promotion the process to prepare the response”, sources said, adding “the 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 would be placed before the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah within next one or two days”.
Following the nod of the Chief Minister, the requisite clarification and the rule position would be furnished to the Raj Bhawan for Governor’s perusal and final decision, sources said.
“The clarification from the Governor assumes importance in view of the fact that several petitions challenging the selection list of District and Sessions Judges have been pending before the Supreme Court as well as State High Court”, sources said.
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.
The petitioners in a Writ Petition titled Zubair Ahmed Mir and Others Versus State of Jammu and Kashmir and Others before the Supreme Court, have even 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 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 last order passed on December 14, 2012, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai mentioned 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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