Srinagar, Mar 30: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has asked its Registry to place on record a report, in a tabular form, regarding the number of cases pending in different subordinate courts as well as the matters pending in the High Court against the former, sitting MPs and ex-MLAs in J&K and Ladakh.
Hearing a PIL, a division bench comprising Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Sanjay Dhar directed the Registry to compile in a tabular form a status report, filed by the Commissioner Secretaries, Home Department of J&K and Ladakh and various Presiding Officers of subordinate courts, and place the same before it by or before May 19.
“Let the status report filed by respondent No. 2 and 3 (Commissioner Secretaries, Home Department of J&K and Ladakh) and various Presiding Officers of the Courts below be compiled by the Registry in a tabular form and same be placed before the Court on or before next date of hearing,” the court said, posting the matter for hearing on May 19.
Previously, the government had informed the court that 13 former members of the Legislative Assembly and sitting or ex-parliamentarians were facing trial in J&K.
The court had sought the status of the trial from the concerned courts through the Registrar Judicial of the court.
The bench had directed the Registrar Judicial to seek a status report from the concerned courts where the trial against the 13 former MLAs and the sitting or ex-parliamentarians was going on.
The politicians against whom the FIR’s are registered and are pending trial include, former Minister for Public Works, Nayeem Akther Andrabi, former Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Iftikhar Hussain Ansari (expired), sitting Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Mohammad Akbar Lone, former Speaker of J&K legislative assembly, Mubarak Gul, former Deputy Chief Minister, J&K Tara Chand
The report also include the names of former MLAs, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Abdul Majid Wani, Dr. Gagan Bhagat, Satpal Lakhotra (expired), and Prem Nath, Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Mir, Mohammad Altaf Wani, Abdul Reheem Rather, and Mansoor Hussain of district Anantnag, Shabir Ahmad Khan, and Zahoor Ahmad Mir.
Earlier, the court had registered a suo moto petition on the directions of the Supreme Court regarding monitoring the progress of trial of cases pending against the sitting & former legislators (MPs or MLAs).
The court had sought information regarding the number of trials which are pending in different subordinate courts as well as the matters pending in the HC against the former and sitting legislators of J&K and Ladakh.
