*4 HC Judges panel framed to consider others’ cases
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 15: Bringing an end to several years long anomaly and uncertainty, the Full Court has ordered regularization of 35 ad hoc District and Sessions Judges and promotion of 11 Judges to the next grade besides it has recommended creation of two special courts in the State to ensure speedy trial in terror related cases.
The Full Court meeting of the Judges of the High Court was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice M M Kumar through video conferencing yesterday wherein several important decisions aimed at streamlining the judiciary across Jammu and Kashmir were taken.
One of the landmark decisions having far-reaching consequences pertains to regularization/ confirmation of ad hoc District and Sessions Judges. These around 35 Judges were promoted as ad hoc District and Sessions Judges prior to October 27, 2009 but their regularization remained in the back burner on one pretext or the other.
Recently, present Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice M M Kumar took the issue seriously as there was lot of resentment among the ad hoc District and Sessions Judges over inordinate delay in regularization and in the light of the fact that many of them have retired without being regularized, sources in judiciary told EXCELSIOR. After threadbare discussion on the issue in the Full Court meeting, it was decided to regularize these ad hoc District and Sessions Judges from the date they were promoted on ad hoc basis.
About the ad hoc District and Sessions Judges, who have been promoted after October 27, 2009, when the J&K Higher Judicial Services Rules were framed, the Full Court decided that their regularization would be considered in accordance with the criteria laid down in the Rules, they said while disclosing that High Court has constituted a committee of first four senior most Judges to conduct exercise in this regard.
The J&K Higher Judicial Services Rules were framed in 2009 by repealing the earlier Rules on the recommendations of the Justice Shetty Commission, which was constituted to look into the service conditions of the Judicial Officers across the country, sources said while mentioning that with the regularization order several years long injustice with the ad hoc District and Sessions Judges, who were promoted prior to October 27, 2009 has come to an end.
The High Court has also granted Super Time Scale to Ashok Kumar Sharma (Registrar Judicial High Court Jammu Wing), Mohd Shafi Khan (retd Principal Sessions Judge), Sanjay Kumar Gupta (Principal District and Sessions Judge Rajouri) and Suresh Kumar Sharma (Registrar General of High Court) from the dates of occurrence of the respective vacancies.
Moreover, Rajesh Sekhri (Principal District and Sessions Judge Ramban), Ramesh Kumar Wattal (Principal District and Sessions Judge Udhampur), Sanjeev Gupta (3rd Additional Sessions Judge and Presiding Officer TADA Court), Kikar Singh Parihar (Additional District and Sessions Judge Doda), Aijaz Ahmad Mir (Registrar Judicial High Court Srinagar Wing), Abdul Rashid Malik (Principal District and Sessions Judge Anantnag) and Inder Singh (Principal District and Sessions Judge Samba) have been granted Selection Grade from the dates of occurrence of the respective vacancies.
In another significant decision, the High Court has recommended creation of two Special Courts—one each in Jammu and Srinagar along with connected infrastructure for trial of terror related cases on a day- to-day basis.
Sources said that few months back Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde had sent a DO letter to the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah highlighting the necessity of setting up of special courts to ensure speedy trial in terror cases.
‘The letter of Union Home Minister was first discussed at the level of Chief Minister and then it was forwarded to the High Court through Law Department seeking its recommendations for establishment of such courts”, they said, adding the High Court has now sought the creation of courts in order to ensure trial on day to day basis.
At present there are only two courts-one in Jammu and another in Srinagar which are exclusively dealing with the cases registered under Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act while as the District Judges too have the powers to deal with the cases registered under the Prevention of Sabotages Act, they said, adding before seeking creation of two Special Courts the High Court minutely observed the pendency of terror cases in different courts, the trend of trial in such cases besides other important aspects.
The High Court has also resolved to permit J&K Public Service Commission to conduct a Screening Test for short-listing the candidates, who have applied for KCS Judicial Examination for the written exams.
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