Jammu, Jan 18 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Lawand Justice Abdul Haq today reiterated that the government was"forcefully defending" in the Supreme Court Article 35A of theConstitution, which empowers the state legislature to defineits 'permanent residents' and bestow on them special rightsand privileges.
Winding up the discussion on the Demand for Grants of lawand allied departments in the Legislative Assembly, theminister said the department has hired the services of abattery of senior advocates of the country including Fali SNariman, Shekhar Naphade, Rakesh Dwivedi and K V Viswanathanto vigorously pursue the case and other similar litigationsand put across the state's position.
A civil society group has challenged the constitutionalprovision in the Supreme Court on grounds of violating theright to equality of people from other states. The provisionbars outsiders from owning properties in the state.
While outlining the road map to fine-tune the justicesystem in the state, the minister said the government hasconstituted a committee to identify and weed out some of thefrivolous litigations that will ensure timely deliverance ofjustice in the state.
Enumerating the measures taken by the Law Departmentduring the past three years to fine-tune the delivery ofjustice, the minister said that the government would shun thepractice of carrying on law suits, which, due to lack of legalmerit, have little to no chance of being won.
He said the committee has been mandated to review thestate cases and the law departments have been directed toplace the cases before the committee which are not worthcontesting.
This will decrease the burden of unnecessary litigationon the state so that focused attention is given to the caseswhich are worth contesting, he said. PTI ABSMN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.