Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday reserved its decision on a plea seeking directions for making public the Koul Commission’s report on killings during unrest in 2010.
A division bench of Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey and Justice Sanjeev Kumar reserved the judgment after hearing advocate Shafqat Nazir on behalf of the petitioner and state’s senior additional advocate general, B A Dar.
The court directed the government to place before it within one week the report and recommendations submitted by Justice Koul Commission in a sealed cover.
The court acted on a plea by a social organisation, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples’ Forum, seeking directions for making public the findings of the Koul Commission on the killings during the 2010 unrest and monitoring of follow up action by the court after the report was made public.
The Forum approached the court through its general secretary M M Shuja, also seeking directions for implementing the recommendations of Koul Commission on grant of compensation to the families of the unarmed civilian victims.
Advocate Nazir pleaded that the “State Government has not come up with clear details about the implementation of the recommendations made by the commission nor the responsibility has been fixed about the killing of unarmed civilians during the unrest of 2010.”
Mere submission of summary of recommendations before the Court instead of putting the entire report in public domain is serious prejudice caused to the public at large, he said.
“The ex-gratia relief, allegedly provided, to the victim families also are not in commensurate with the sufferings of the families whose kin were killed during the unrest,” Nazir submitted.
On behalf of the state, its counsel B A Dar submitted before the court that the commission’s report was sensitive and cannot be made public.