Srinagar: Traffic on 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only all weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country was resumed this afternoon after remaining suspended on Tuesday due to fresh landslides in Ramban area, official sources said.

There will be no traffic on Wednesday in view of maintenance of the highway.

They said there was a huge landslide at Mahar Ramban today disrupting traffic movement on the highway. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the Mahar, they said adding the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)  immediately put into service sophisticated machines and men to resume traffic on the highway.

Traffic was resumed after landslides were cleared, they said adding vehicles are now moving towards their respective destination.

A traffic police official told UNI that today Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) traffic was allowed from Srinagar and Jammu. However, Kashmir bound vehicles had to cross Nagrota between 0800 hrs to 1300 hrs and Jakheni Udhampur from 0900 hrs to 1400 hrs

For Jammu bound LMVs they had to cross Zig Qazigund between 0700 hrs and 1200 hrs.

However, Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) will be allowed to ply from Jakheni Udhampur from 1500 hrs 2200 hrs, he said adding no vehicle will be allowed after cut off timing.

Security forces are advised not to ply against traffic plan in view of congestion on the highway, he said adding they are advised to ply from Srinagar to Jammu.

The historic 86-km-long Mughal road, linking Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu also remained closed since December last year due to accumulation of snow. However, people living on both sides of the road, which is see as alternative to Srinagar-Jammu highway, alleged that snow clearance operation has been completed early this month. They further alleged that authorities are not allowing traffic officially though some private vehicles are plying on the road.

Girls outshine boys

By:  Bhat Imran

Srinagar:  With an overall pass percentage of 76 percent, Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) on Tuesday declared the results of annual regular examinations of 11th standard of Kashmir division.

The news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) has learnt that the girl students have yet again outshined boys.

“Girls registered a total pass percentage of 79 percent while boys registered only 74 percent,” BOSE said.

BOSE also said that a total of 75,652 students were enrolled for the exams out of which 57,658 qualified it.

According to BOSE, at least 25,701 students bagged the distinction in the annual regular exams of 11th standard, 21,309 students got first division, 9339 secured second division, 1294 students passed the exams with third division and fifteen students qualified their additional third subject.

The figures also reveal that in the exams, at least 394 students were absent, 20 students were having dispute in eligibilities, eight were disqualified and an examination of three students was cancelled—(KNO)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed High Courts and the state governments to amend the existing procedures as it framed detailed draft rules to streamline investigation and expedite trials in criminal cases.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat, said: “This court is of the opinion that the courts in all criminal trials should, at the beginning of the trial, i.e. after summoning of the accused, and framing of charges, hold a preliminary case management hearing. This hearing may take place immediately after the framing of the charges.”

The bench clarified that the draft rules, related to investigation, like preparing medico-legal certificate, post mortem, inquest report, photography and amid the investigation videography of post mortem, are compliant and not in any way repugnant to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

“If the state government’s co-operation is necessary in this regard, the approval of the concerned department or departments, and the formal notification of the said Draft Rules, shall be made within the said period of six months,” it added.

Passing the order in a suo moto case, the top court said the rules also dealt with trial proceedings, which includes supply of documents to accused, framing of charge, and recording of evidence. “The state governments shall appoint advocates, other than Public Prosecutors, to advise the Investigating Officer during investigation,” it said.

The bench said all High Courts should take expeditious steps to incorporate the Draft Criminal Rules on Practice, 2021 as part of the rules governing criminal trials, and ensure that the existing rules, notifications, orders and practice directions are suitably modified, and promulgated (wherever necessary through the Official Gazette) within 6 months from Tuesday.

The top court took into consideration the views of the High Courts and three amici curiae, senior advocates Sidharth Luthra, R. Basant and advocate K. Parameshwar. The court approved the draft rules, which, among others, mandated recording of evidence on a day-to-day basis, and noting down special reasons for allowing adjournment.

According to the rules, bail applications in non-bailable cases must ordinarily be disposed of within a period of three to seven days from first date of hearing.

The top court also directed the state governments and Centre in connection with investigating agencies in its control, to carry out consequential amendments to their police and other manuals, within six months.

By: Umaisar Gull Ganie

Qazigund: A youth from Qazigund area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag has brought laurels to Jammu and Kashmir by qualifying Indian Engineering Services (IES) exams conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with 26th rank all over India.

Mir Adfar Aaghaz (22), a resident of Katran Mir Bazar area of Qazigund who is a bachelor of technology pass out of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, has qualified the exam with flying colours without any coaching.

Adfar said that he has done his schooling in his native area, however, due to financial crunch he had to move to maternal home Kamad Achabal to continue his studies.

“My maternal uncle has been bearing my all expenses  I am thankful to him along with my family who has supported me every time despite facing many problems financially,” he said.

Adfar  said that before completing B-Tech in Civil Engineering in the year 2019, he appeared in Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) exams and secured 427th rank after which he got various offers for Master of Technology (M. Tech) in many IITs all over India but he preferred to prepare for IES.

“Since 2019 I have been preparing for the exams and finally, I have achieved my dream I was expecting to be part of the list but 26th rank was a surprise,” he said.

“Three months after I completed my B. Tech from NIT Srinagar the notification for IES exam was issued,” he said. “Our Preliminary exam was conducted on January 5, 2020 and Mains was scheduled in June 2020. Then due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the interview was delayed to March 2021.”

He said that due to the financial crunch he himself studied without any coaching.

“I was studying for around 10 hours on a daily basis and qualified the exam with ease,” he said—(KNO)

Srinagar: Former Chief Minister (CM) and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah has tested negative for COVID-19 after twice testing positive.

However, his son and former CM and vice president of NC Omar will continue to remain under self isolation because of contradictory results of his COVID tests.

Omar informed this evening that his father Abdullah finally tested negative for COVID-19.

Abdullah had tested positive on March 30 and was later shifted to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). However, he was discharged from the hospital despite testing COVID positive.

Omar on April 9 had tested positive for the virus. However, his two test reports today were contradictory as one was positive and another was negative so he decided to remain in self isolation for next one week.

Taking to micro blogging site Twitter Omar said, “It’s a big relief for all of us at home that my father finally tested negative for COVID-19. In my case I’ve had two contradictory results with one test coming back negative & another positive. To be on the same side I’ll continue to self-isolate & will test again next week”.