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| HC adjourns plea against use of pellet guns | | |
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Dec 21: The state High Court, post August 5, has adjourned for tenth consecutive time a petition on ban for use on pellet guns in the J&K.
A division bench of Justices Ali Mohammad Magrey and Dhiraj Singh Thakur adjourned the plea with the observation that "only difficulty" in considering the matter was "non-availability" of the counsel for petitioners-Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court asked the J&K High Court to decide within six weeks the plea and later, on the request by the Registrar of the Union Territories' highest court, the top court extended the time.
"This Court, in terms of order dated 3rd April, 2018, while taking note of the direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, had sought extension in time for deciding the matter. The need for seeking extension was felt only because of the non- appearance of the learned counsel for the petitioner," observed the high court's division bench.
"It is noted that the writ petition has been listed on 5th August, 6th August, 30th August, 4th September, 12th September, 18th September, 25th September, 4th October, 11th and 18th October."
On November 1, advocate G N Shaheen appeared on behalf of lawyers' body and sought short adjournment for "being short of brief."
When the matter was taken up again nobody, no advocate was present on behalf of lawyers' body.
"The only difficulty, therefore, in considering the matter, is the non-availability of the learned counsel for the petitioner. The matter, as such, is again adjourned," the court said and listed it again on 10 February 2020.
The PIL on the issue was filed before the high court in 2016 by Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, seeking stay on use of pellet guns as a large number of people had been killed or injured due to its use.
Taking on record the letter of the Registrar of the High Court earlier this year, the apex court's bench headed by then chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said: "We request the Division Bench of the High Court to expeditiously decide the matter and pass order preferably within six weeks."
The lawyers association had approached the top court with an appeal against the order of the High Court which on September 22 rejected the plea seeking a ban on use of pellet guns on the ground that the Centre had already constituted a Committee of Experts through its Memorandum dated July 26, 2016 for exploring alternatives to pellet guns.
The apex court on January 18, 2018 had said it would wait for the outcome of the petition pending before the High Court.
In the apex court, the High Court Bar Association challenged the order, contending that High Court should have waited or called for the report of the expert committee.
The High Court had also declined to accept the plea to prosecute the officers who ordered use of pellet guns and those who actually fired them. |
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