Jammu corners major share in judiciary posts
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has given in to the pressure of its alliance partner BJP as majority of the positions in the judiciary have been cornered by Jammu region.
Both in the subordinate and higher judiciary the Jammu region has a larger share. According to officials though it is on the basis of the recommendations of the Law Department that the names of the judges are cleared by President.
It has been found that the PDP was coming under pressure from its alliance partner BJP with respect to the filling of vacancies in the higher judiciary. After 3 judges recently took oath, as of now out of the 12 judges in the High Court 2 are from Kashmir, 5 from Jammu, 1 from Ladakh and 4 including the Chief Justice from outside State.
Out of the 8 sub judges who were promoted to the post of district and sessions judges recently only one is from Kashmir and the rest are from Jammu. A local resident who had topped higher judicial examination, two years back and was entitled to be appointed to the post of District and Sessions Judge, was not appointed to the post as he was not cleared by the State Intelligence Agencies.
The issue of Jammu getting a higher share in the vacancies of judges has drawn protest by the J&K High Court Bar Association Srinagar. In a statement issued today, the HCBA said that it was placing on “record a strong protest against the regional imbalance created and the discrimination resorted to by BJP government in appointing three more judges to the J&K State High Court and by the PDP-BJP government.’’
“ While as for about 1.5 lakh people of Ladakh, there is one representation in the High Court, for Jammu, which has less population than Kashmir the representation is five, but the representation from Kashmir has been restricted to only two, though Kashmir is more populated than Jammu, which by itself is a clear-cut proof of regional imbalance and discrimination resorted to by the BJP government,’’ said Bashir Sidiq, General Secretary of the HCBA.
“Bar Association cannot remain silent against the regional imbalance created by the BJP government in the State High Court and by the PDP-BJP collation govt in the subordinate judiciary and as such the issue should be raised with all vigor, to make the people to understand as to how the PDP-BJP Govt through their nefarious designs want to marginalize the people of Kashmir in all spheres of their life,’’ said Sidiq.
KV Correspondent
