Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday asked Vice Chairman Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) to present himself and apprise the court on Thursday as to how the Authority proposes to tackle the cleanliness of the Dal Lake and other related issues.
As the public Interest litigation on preservation of Dal lake came up for hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Vinnod Chatterji Koul today, the bench directed to put up the matter tomorrow again so as to enable the VC LAWDA to present himself.
The direction came following the intervention of advocate general D C Raina.
In February this year, the Court had sought a report on the functioning of various committees constituted for the conservation of the Dal Lake.
The court had asked senior advocate Z A Shah who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in the PIL, to submit the report after analyzing functioning of various committees on the Lake.
The bench sought the report after the amicus had suggested that the court needed to analyze the functioning of the monitoring /scientific and vigilance committees as well as the expert committee constituted for effective preservation, conservation and protection of the Dal Lake.
During the pendency of the PIL, the court in terms of its order passed on 18.09.2018 had decided to constitute committee of experts comprising some retired officers and advocates. The amicus submitted that the court needed to analyze the functioning of these committees.
Meanwhile, in respect of all pending applications the court today directed counsel filing the applications to serve the copies of the applications to the office of the Advocate General and amicus curiae. “On such service, the amicus curiae as well as the office of the Advocate General would file response to all those applications and the same would be taken up serially as and when they are pressed for disposal,” court said.