* Another name withdrawn for ‘excess’ marking
Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Nov 20: Shocking though it may sound that State Government has put on hold appointment of one of the candidates for the post of District and Session Judge after the dossier sent by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the Law Department ‘verified’ that the candidate had close links with PTM (Pak-Trained Militant).
In another case, the candidate had ‘inadvertently’ been awarded excess marks in the Higher Judiciary (Direct Recruitment) examination due to which he had been declared ‘selected’. “However, as the papers were subjected to re-checking, it was found that the candidate didn’t have the desired marks”, reliable sources said.
They said, “the appointment of nine District and Session Judges had been engulfed into a major controversy with the State Government deciding to withhold names of these two candidates. Besides, the appointment had been challenged in various courts of the State and even in the Apex Court”.
Sources said that the appointment order of the candidate with militant-links had raised several eyebrows in the Judiciary and among Government circles. “The irony of the facts can be gauged from the fact that the candidate occupied the top slot in the appointment order issued by the Government”, sources added.
Sources in the Home Department also categorically stated that all the dossiers of the candidates had been sent to the Law Department. “The dossier of the candidate with militant links categorically stated that he has himself remained an active member of the Pakistan backed militant outfit and has been closely associated with several anti-national elements. The dossier also mentioned the name of the militant outfit with which the candidate has been actively associated”, sources asserted.
Elaborating on the method adopted for verification process, sources said, “the procedure is same as the one adopted in case of other service appointment. The confidential details from High Court are forwarded to the CID, which are then forwarded to district level officials for further verification in consultation with Special Branch (SB). The consolidated reports are then sent back to the concerned quarters”.
In the case of second aspirant, sources stated that the candidate while appearing for the entrance examination had attempted two choice questions, while as only either of them had to be answered. “Further, the individual while doing marking had inadvertently given marks for both the answers, while only one of them was relevant. With the results the score of the candidate which was earlier declared as 92 had dropped down to 85 after necessary verification”, sources said.
“Now that the cases of both of these candidates had come to the fore, the State Government had no choice but to drop their names”, sources asserted.
Besides, several petitions had been filed in different courts including the Apex Court while challenging the selection list of nine District and Session Judges.
Some of the candidates, who couldn’t make it to the selection process had also filed a petition before the Supreme Court on the subject. The Court had given the direction that the appointments to the Higher Judicial Service, if made will be subject to the outcome of the petition.
Also, at least 17 Sub-Judges have challenged the list before High Court in Jammu while pleading that the direct recruitment may hamper their career prospects.
In a writ petition filed before the High Court the Sub-Judges claimed that their service career and prospects are likely to be pre-judicially affected in case 13 posts of District and Sessions Judges are filled-up by the direct recruitment “at the cost of right of the in-service officers for promotion earned by the length of their service under the State Judiciary.”
Around 215 candidates had appeared in Higher Judiciary (Direct Recruitment) Examination conducted by the State High Court. Though 13 posts were desired to be filled up and 15 candidates were short listed for interview, only nine candidates were declared successful.
Names of nine advocates were selected for District Judges, included five from Kashmir and four from Jammu region in the month of August this year. The list of nine candidates including Muhammad Altaf Khan, Haq Nawaz Zargar, Tahir Khurshid Raina, Shazia Tabsum, Tasleem Arief, Sonia Gupta, Rajinder Sapru, Naseer Ahmed Dar and Pawan Kumar Kundal.
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