The justice system in Jammu and Kashmir has been reduced to a “cruel joke”, the High Court said as it criticised the Union territory’s administration for its failure to comply with a court order, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.
A division bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Javed Iqbal Wani made the remarks on Monday as it heard a contempt petition against the administration for not complying with a court order from August 2023.
The court, in this order, had directed the authorities to ensure higher pay scales to chief engineers and other higher-ranking engineers as soon as possible.
On Monday, the bench directed the chief secretary, the finance secretary, the general administration department secretary and the public works department (roads and bridges) secretary to be present for the hearing via videoconference in the latter half of the day in connection with the matter, Live Law reported.
However, the chief secretary and the general administration department secretary failed to appear before the court at the allotted time.
The court was told that the Union territory government had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court in June against its 2023 order. The bench questioned the 10-month delay in filing the petition.
It also noted that the top court’s registry had flagged seven defects in the petition that was yet to be remedied.
The bench said that the “excessive latitude” shown to the executive in the past had allowed it to consistently ignore court orders, Live Law reported. This had led to a backlog of over 6,000 contempt petitions, it said, adding that some cases were pending for over a decade.
“…from the manner the Union territory government has conducted itself, it is clear that there is absolute lack of sincerity of purpose on its part to comply with the order passed by this court,” it added, according to The Indian Express.
The bench said that this reflected the “sorry state of affairs” in the Union territory with regard to judicial proceedings and orders.
“This reflects a shocking scenario where the executive is ignoring the orders passed by this court with utter disdain, cocky that this court shall take no measures imperilling their liberty for their disobedience,’’ it observed.
The bench then directed the four officials to be personally present in the court during the next hearing on Thursday, adding that non-compliance would lead to coercive measures to secure their presence.
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