Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government informed the High Court of J&K and Ladakh that 13 former members of the Legislative Assembly and sitting or ex-parliamentarians were facing trial in J&K.
Hearing on its motion a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a division bench of Chief Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey and Justice Sanjay Dhar sought the status of the trial from the concerned courts through the Registrar Judicial of the court.
The court 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 ex-MLAs named in the official report include Balwant Singh Mankotia, Abdul Majid Wani, Gagan Bhagat, Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir, Muhammad Altaf Wani, Shabir Ahmad Khan, Mansoor Hussain, Abdul Rahim Rather, Iftikhar Hussain Ansari (expired), Satpal Lakhotra (expired), Nayeem Akhtar Indrabi, and Zahoor Ahmad Mir (vigilance verification)
The court also granted two weeks further time to the Commissioner Secretary to the Government Home Department, Ladakh for submitting the details of the cases pending against the sitting and former legislators.
The petition was registered suo moto last year by the court in compliance with an order of the Supreme Court, directing for monitoring the progress of the trial of cases pending against the sitting and former legislators (MPs or MLAs).
On September 20, 2021, the court arrayed concerned officials from J&K and Ladakh as respondents to the case.
Subsequently, it directed them to furnish details regarding the number of cases pending in different subordinate courts as well as the matters pending in the High Court against these MPs or MLAs.
The J&K government in the status report revealed that 13 cases were pending trial before various courts.
However, Ladakh through the Commissioner Secretary Home Department has not filed the status report so far.