NEW DELHI: Amidst the backdrop of the developments that have taken place in the State of Jammu and Kashmir pursuant to the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and the rules framed there under, SC on Wednesday permitted the petitioners to withdraw the petitions seeking to declare the act and the rules as unconstitutional and illegal.
The Act provided for reservation in Jammu and Kashmir in appointment, and admission in Professional Institutions for the members of SC, ST & other socially and educationally backward classes. However, after the repeal of Article 370, the Act was made applicable with certain amendments to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh and was also mentioned in The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
At the outset, ASG Vikramjeet Banerjee submitted that factual developments have taken place including certain amendments to the provisions of the J & K reservation act.
“Whatever you’ve filed in 2006, it’s impossible for us to modify that or keep on amending that. Rather than keeping it pending, we give you the liberty to file whatever you want to in accordance with the law,” CJI UU Lalit remarked.
Taking note of the fact that the matter has been pending for 16 years, a bench headed by CJI UU Lalit in the order said, “In view of the developments which have taken place since the filing of the WP, we permit the petitioners to withdraw the plea with further liberty to take initiate proceedings in a manner known to law.”