Govt seeks High Court’s permission for judge’s appointment as PSC member

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, May 20: Attempting to clear decks for constituting the State Public Service Commission will full strength of eight members and Chairman, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s coalition government on Wednesday began the mandatory process of seeking J&K High Court’s permission for the appointment of a sitting judge as one of its members.

Informed sources revealed to State Times that the Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had on last Monday accorded sanction to recommending eight persons as members and an IAS officer as Chairman. However, it was decided that the names would not be disclosed until obtaining permission of Chief Justice of J&K High Court for the recommendation and appointment of Suresh Kumar Sharma, who happens to be a judicial officer of the rank of District & Sessions Judge. Mr Sharma is currently posted as Special Judge Anti-Corruption, CBI cases, in Jammu.

“But unfortunately Deputy Chief Minister disclosed the names of the BJP quota to Press. PDP had withheld the names only for the fact that one of the BJP recommendees was a sitting judge”, said a well-placed source in the government. He said that late in the evening today, Government wrote a letter, seeking the permission of Chief Justice for Mr Sharma’s appointment.

However, Law Secretary Mohammad Ashraf Mir maintained that he had no knowledge whether the letter had gone or not. “It was ready today. It must have gone in the evening or would go tomorrow morning”, he told State Times.

Bureaucrats in General Administration Department said that the Government would forward the panel of the nine names to Governor only after obtaining High Court’s no objection to Mr Sharma’s nomination. These sources said that of the previous panel, only the name of IAS officer Lateef-uz-Zaman Deva had been approved by the Cabinet for the post of Chairman while as Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, retired Principal of a Degree College in Kashmir, had been repeated for the post of a member.

From Kashmir Division, a retired Chief Engineer of R&B, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone had also been cleared by the Cabinet. Tashi Dorje, who is being recommended in the third panel, hails from Leh, Ladakh. Remaining five---retired KAS officer J.P. Singh who was originally a resident of Singhpora Baramulla (and has settled in Jammu), Posh Charak a Professor of University of Jammu who is known for her proximity to the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, BJP activist Dr Beas Dev Dogra who was reportedly a contender of the party’s ticket from Samba in last year’s Assembly elections, Asgar Ali Choudhary of Rajouri---are all from Jammu.

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