NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday notified the appointment of Javed Iqbal Wani, son-in-law of separatist Mian Abdul Qayoom, as a judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The elevation came a year after Wani’s name was recommended.“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Javed Iqbal Wani, to be the Judge of Common High Court for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” read the notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
Wani is the son-in-law of Qayoom, who is the president of the High Court Bar Association (Srinagar wing), and has been under preventive detention since the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution in August last year.
The J&K High Court collegium headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal had proposed Wani’s name in March last year along with three others — Rajnesh Oswal, Rahul Bharti and Moksha Kazmi-Khauria.
At that time, the Centre had objected to Wani’s elevation after the Intelligence Bureau, in its report, pointed out that his father-in-law Qayoom had provided legal assistance to separatists, and was also close to top Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.