Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has granted government of India and state government time till May 13 to file reply to the Public Interest Litigations’, challenging the ban on civilian traffic for two days a week on Srinagar-Jammu highway, the lifeline of Kashmir Valley.
A division bench of Justices Ali Mohammad Magrey and Tashi Rabstan granted the time after Jehangir Iqbal Ganai, Sr. Advocate, submitted that in terms of the previous order, the State Government has not filed the reply in the PILs.
“Let (B A) Dar, Sr. AAG and (T M) Shamsi, ASGI ensure filing of reply in all PILs,” the court said and ordered listing of PILs for further consideration on May 13.
The court was hearing a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) against the highway ban and in one of the petitions, filed by Shah Faesal, the former IAS topper who recently floated his own party, the government has filed the response. On last hearing, when the court asked the senior AAG if the government intended to adopt the reply in other PILs also, the former said responded in negative and sought time to file the same.
Besides by former IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal, the PILs have been filed by National Conference leader Ali Muhammad Sagar, Peoples Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhter, Raja Faisal Zahoor, Shafaqat Nazir and Arif Javid Khan.
