Jammu & Kashmir And Ladakh High Court Weekly Roundup: 31 July - 6 August, 2023

Nominal Index:

Ghulam Rasool Sofi Vs State Of J&k 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 199

Mohammad Younis Mir Vs Union Territory of J&K & Anr 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 200

Ravinder Kumar Vs State of J&K 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 201

Shahbaz Ahmad Palla 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 202

Yoginder Singh Vs Union Of India 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 203

Imran Nabi Wani Vs UT of J&K 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 204

State Of J&K Vs Shailender Singh 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 205

Bijay Oraon Vs Union Of India 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 206

Zahoor Ahmad Wani Vs UT of J&K 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 207

Abdul Rashid Bhat Vs Finanacial Commissioner 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 208

Judgments/Orders:

J&K High Court Refuses To Implement Human Rights Commission's Recommendation To Compensate Father Of Youth Killed By Security Agencies

Case Title: Ghulam Rasool Sofi Vs State Of J&k

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 199

The Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh High Court refused to implement the recommendation made by State Human Rights Commission to compensate the father of a youth killed by Indian Securities Agencies.

Those Responsible For National Security Sole Judges Of What Preventive Actions Are Necessary: Jammu & Kashmir High Court Upholds Detention Order

Case Title: Mohammad Younis Mir Vs Union Territory of J&K & Anr.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 200

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court emphasised on its limited scope to look into the manner in which the subjective satisfaction is arrived at by the detaining authority to order preventive detention of a person.

“The courts do not even go into the questions as to whether the facts mentioned in the grounds of detention are correct or false. The reason for the rule is that to decide this, evidence may have to be taken by the courts and that it is not the policy of the law of preventive detention. This matter lies within the competence of the advisory board. Those who are responsible for national security or for maintenance of public order must be the sole judges of what the national security, public order or security of the State requires”, Justice M A Chowdhary observed.

Jammu & Kashmir High Court Quashes Order Repatriating Employee To Parent Department After 21 Yrs

Case Title: Ravinder Kumar Vs State of J&K

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 201

Shedding light on the law related to the timeframe for repatriating an employee to his parent department after his deputation, the Jammu & Kashmir High Court ruled that an employee, who has been permanently absorbed into a borrowing department/organization and whose lien has been terminated in their parent organization cannot be repatriated to their parent organization.

“Once the petitioner who has been sent on deputation is absorbed in the borrowing department/organization and his lien in the parent department stood terminated, his repatriation, subsequently, after 21 years by virtue of order impugned is dehors the service rules and is illegal”, observed Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal.

"Fundamentalist Muslim Cannot Be Equated With An Extremist Or A Separatist": Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Case Title: Shahbaz Ahmad Palla.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 202

"A fundamentalist Muslim cannot be equated with an extremist or a separatist," the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court observed recently.

The remarks were made by single bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan while dealing with a petition challenging preventive detention of a 22 years old Muslim man inter alia on the ground that he has become a “hard core fundamentalist” and voluntarily agreed to work as Over Ground Worker of the TRF (The Resistance Front), alleged LeT outfit.

CRPF | Heavy & Onerous Responsibility On Disciplinary Authority To Ensure Punishment Proportionate To Misconduct: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Case Title: Yoginder Singh Vs Union Of India

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 203

Emphasising the vital role of the Disciplinary Authority in ensuring that punishments imposed on delinquent officials are proportionate to their misconduct, the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court quashed the dismissal order of a paramilitary personnel.

Jammu & Kashmir High Court Upholds Preventive Detention Of Man Accused In Srinagar DySP Lynching Case

Case Title: Imran Nabi Wani Vs UT of J&K

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 204

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on upheld the preventive detention of a man who is also the main accused in the DySP lynching case that occurred in Srinagar's Nowhatta area in 2017.

'In Case Based On Circumstantial Evidence, Motive Assumes Importance': Jammu & Kashmir HC Upholds Acquittal In 15 Yrs Old Murder Case

Case Title: State Of J&K Vs Shailender Singh

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 205

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court upheld the acquittal of a murder accused in a 15 years old case that was based on circumstantial evidence, stating the prosecution failed to show an unbroken chain of events to prove the guilt of the accused.

“Where a series of circumstances are dependent on one another, they are to be read as one ingredient as a whole and not separately as it is not possible for a Court to truncate and break the chain of circumstances as the very concept of proof of circumstantial evidence would be defeated, in that event and where the circumstantial evidence consist of chain of continued circumstances linked with one another, the Court has to take cumulative evidence of the prosecution before acquitting or convicting the accused”, a bench of Justices Sanjeev Kumar & Justice Javed Iqbal Wani observed.

Non-Disclosure Of Material Information By Probationer Sufficient Ground For Termination Without Formal Enquiry: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Case Title: Bijay Oraon Vs Union Of India

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 206

The Jammu & Kashmir High Court has ruled that non-disclosure of material information or submission of false information by a government employee, especially in a belt force like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), can be sufficient ground for termination without the need for a formal enquiry, if the employee is on probation.

“…Even if the employer comes to know about the adverse antecedents of an employee during probation period, it shall be open to the employer to exercise his powers under sub-rule (1) of Rule 5 of the Rules of 1965 and discharge the probationer without assigning any reason”, Justice Sanjay Dhar emphasised.

UAPA | Jammu & Kashmir High Court Issues Guidelines To Expedite Trials Especially During Stage Of Prosecution Evidence

Case Title: Zahoor Ahmad Wani Vs UT of J&K

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 207

The Jammu & Kashmir High Court issued a set of guidelines to Trial Courts in the State to expedite trials, especially during the stage of prosecution evidence.

Notaries Empowered To Attest Affidavits For Writ Proceedings Before High Court: Jammu & Kashmir HC

Case Title: Abdul Rashid Bhat Vs Finanacial Commissioner

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 208

The Jammu & Kashmir High Court upheld the validity of affidavits attested by Notaries appointed under the Notaries Act 1952 for use in writ proceedings before the High Court.

“Rule 181 of the High Court Rules makes the provisions of Section 139 of the Code of Civil Procedure applicable to affidavits intended to be used in the High Court. Thus, a Notary appointed under the Notaries Act is empowered to attest an affidavit which is intended to be used in the High Court.”, the bench said.