Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Apr 27: Union Law Minister, Sadananda Gowda has returned the file pertaining to the appointment of Judges to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court back to the State with some serious observations.
Highly placed sources told EXCELSIOR, “the Union Minister has made noting on the file that the proposal for appointment of new Judges needs to be reconsidered as a new political Government is in place. Since the new appointments have great implications for the State, it should seek opinion of both the Chief Minister and the State Governor on the matter”.
Sources added, “Instructions have been issued by the Union Law Minister to send formal communication pertaining to the return of the Judges panel to the State Governor, N N Vohra; Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and Chief Justice State High Court, Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar”.
They further said, “the office of Union Law Ministry has categorically stated that the entire exercise for appointment of Judges in State High Court has to be done again”, adding “the Ministry was also concerned over the matter that security agencies had expressed reservations over one candidate in the panel, which had been recommended by the State High Court”.
“Earlier, Governor N N Vohra in March this year had given a dissent note in the file that no prior consultation was held with him before sending the formal proposal to the Centre. The Governor had questioned the entire process as being head of State his views ought to be taken before sending the final proposal”, sources said. The Governor’s remarks assumed great significance in view of the fact that the State was under Governor’s Rule, when the proposal was initiated by the High Court authorities.
Earlier, in March this year the High Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice, N Paul Vasanthakumar after consultation with senior Judges had sent their confidential report to the Governor, Union Law Ministry and Supreme Court recommending a panel for appointment as High Court Judges.
In the absence of political Government in the State, the panel was only shared with Raj Bhavan while as another copy was forwarded to the security agencies to verify the credentials of the persons on the panel.
“The Raj Bhavan forwarded the entire file along with its observations to the Union Law Ministry and also appended complaints received from several quarters, against some of the members in the panel”, sources pointed out.
The panel included six Advocates – three each from Jammu and Kashmir besides two senior judicial officers. “The lawyers in the panel were Advocate Javed Kawoosa, Advocate M S Latif, Advocate Nasir Hussain Shah from Kashmir region and Advocate R K Gupta, Advocate G S Thakur and Advocate S K Shukla from Jammu region”, sources confirmed. Two senior judicial officers, whose names had also been included, were Registrar General, M K Hanjura and former Registrar General, Kaneez Fatima, who is presently posted as member, J&K Sales Tax Tribunal.
In January 2014 also the HC Collegium headed by the then Chief Justice, M M Kumar had initiated the process for appointment of four new High Court Judges – two as Permanent Judges (Neeru Goswami and Sanjeev Shukla) and equal number as Additional Judges (Javed Ahmad Kawoosa and Nazir Ahmad Baig)”.
However, present Chief Justice of India, Justice T S Thakur, when consulted by the then CJI expressed some reservations about the names and suggested that they be sent back to the High Court.
The sanctioned strength of the J&K High Court is 17 Judges including Chief Justice, but presently there are only nine Judges (including Chief Justice) and this has led to piling up of cases. Though, all Judges are working to their full capacity for expeditious disposal of cases, the situation has put lot of pressure as the working strength has been reduced to almost 50%.
At present, there are only eight Judges— Justice R Sudhakar, Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Justice Ali Mohd Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal and Justice Bawa Singh Walia besides Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar.
As per the existing Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of High Court Judges, the proposal for appointment of a Judge has to be initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court. However, if the Chief Minister desires to recommend the name of any person he or she can forward the same to the Chief Justice for his consideration.
“Therefore, the views of Chief Minister on the recommendations made by the State High Court Authorities are of great significance”, legal experts opined.
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