SRINAGAR: The post of Advocate General of Jammu and Kashmir has been vacant for over a year as the resignation of previous Advocate General D C Raina is still awaiting formal acceptance and no proposal to fill the post has been initiated so far.
Responding to an RTI query filed by Jammu-based RTI activist Raman Kumar Sharma, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Department of Law and Justice admitted that the post of Advocate General is lying vacant in J&K from the date on which the last Advocate General (D C Raina) tendered his resignation.
However, the government response does not mention the exact date of Raina’s resignation.
After swearing-in of the Omar-led government in October last year, Raina had submitted his resignation.
Omar wanted him to continue in the office but there has been a difference of opinion on the issue from the Lieutenant Governor’s office, which was reportedly opposed to his continuation.
Due to the impasse, the critical legal office in J&K has remained in limbo. The concerned authorities have neither accepted Raina’s resignation nor initiated the process for appointing new Advocate General.
Raina was appointed Advocate General by J&K’s first Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu, on November 1, 2019.
In response to an RTI query, the Department of Law and Justice stated that “matter of AG’s resignation is under consideration. The date of acceptance of resignation has not been finalised or communicated as yet.”
Surprisingly, the RTI revealed that no proposal has been moved yet and no steps taken by J&K government for appointment of a new Advocate General, even after more than a year of the vacancy.
The prolonged absence of an Advocate General has also drawn judicial attention.
In June this year, J&K and Ladakh High Court questioned how long the Union Territory would continue to function without an Advocate General.
While hearing a case, J&K High Court judge Justice Rahul Bharti had observed that in absence of an Advocate General, section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, is suffering suspended animation.
The High Court had called upon the government of UT to apprise the Court about the state of affairs related to appointment of an Advocate General for J&K.