Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, June 9: Government of India on Tuesday appointed prominent lawyer Javed Iqbal Wani as a Judge of the Common High Court for the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

“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 a Judge of Common High Court for the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of I.adakh with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” reads the notification issued by Law Ministry.
His recommendation, made by the Supreme Court Collegium, was pending with the central government for the past few months.
After he takes the oath, the bench strength of the J&K High Court will increase to 13 against the total strengthen of 17 judges including the Chief Justice.
Advocate Iqbal Wani is the gold medalist in Law from Kashmir University and had started practice in 1990. He had been practising in Jammu and Srinagar Wings of High Court.
He has also served as Additional Advocate General from February 2019 to December 2019.

Jammu, June 9: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu on Tuesday expressed anguish at the killing of Sarpanch, Ajay Pandita Bharti, in Anantnag.

Calling it a cowardly act, the Lt Governor condemned the killing and said that those behind the killing are the enemies of humanity.

The attack on any public representative was the attack on the democratic setup, he added.

He has directed the authorities to spare no efforts in bringing the culprits to justice. He prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family members.

Srinagar, June 9: Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, on Tuesday ordered transfer of four officers from J&K to Ladakh. Similarly, one officer, Sargun (IPS) has been transferred from Ladakh to J&K.
Sources told GNS that the officers transferred from J&K to Ladakh include Ajeet Kumar Sahu (IAS), Ravinder Kumar (IAS), Bhim Sen Tuti (IPS) and Rajiv Omprakash Pande (IPS).

New Delhi, June 9: A contempt petition filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP), before the Apex Court stated that there is a willful failure of the government officials in complying with the directions of the Supreme Court despite 29 days having elapsed since the judgement was delivered on 11 May 2020.

The Apex Court has not fixed any date for hearing the contempt petition filed by the FMP.

The contempt petition was filed before the Apex Court, with assistance of lawyers, Vrinda Bhandari, Apar Gupta and Devdutta Mukhopadhaya in the Internet Freedom Foundation case.

The Supreme Court had directed that a “Special Committee” be constituted to “immediately” determine the necessity of continued restriction of mobile internet speeds in Jammu & Kashmir to 2G only, the FMP in its contempt petition stated.

An Intervention Application (IA) was also filed by the FMP for directions along with the contempt petition to bring on record subsequent orders issued by the UT of Jammu & Kashmir under the Temporary Telecom Suspension Rules 2017 after the Supreme Court delivered its judgement on 11 May 2020.

The Application notes that even after the Supreme Court’s clarification that restrictions on internet access must be temporally and territorially limited to what is absolutely necessary, the UT of Jammu & Kashmir has directed internet service providers to slow down mobile internet speed to 2G in all districts of Jammu & Kashmir without providing any specific reasons for different districts.

The Application also challenges the government’s assertion that internet speed restrictions have not hindered COVID-19 control measures and access to online resources by relying on personal testimonies and technical analysis previously placed on record by the petitioner about the practical impact of denial of 4G internet services.

The Application further states that restoration of 4G internet services is a broad based demand which has been endorsed by Ram Madhav, National General Secretary of BJP as well, and it quotes a statement by Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs about Jammu & Kashmir experiencing lowest incidents of militancy since 1990 after abrogation of Article 370.

Traders give undertaking to follow SoP

Srinagar, June 9: The final meeting to open shops in the city centre—Lal Chowk and other areas of Srinagar will be taken after a crucial meeting between traders and the deputy commisoner Srinagar tomorrow afternoon, official sources told KNO.

They said the traders have already given a written undertaking that they will follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and guidelines laid by the Ministry of Home Affairs besides District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

“The meeting was scheduled today but DC sahib was busy somewhere. Now we have got a call for a final and crucial meeting over re-opening of shops in Lal Chowk and other parts of Srinagar district, at 12 noon tomorrow,” said, KTMF chairman Muhammad Yasin Khan told KNO.

Earlier in the day, the traders’ representatives met additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Srinagar Muhammad Haneef Balkhi, who had stated that there was a possibility of re-opening of shops but final decision would be taken by the DC Srinagar Shahiq Iqbal Choudhary in a meeting on Wednesday.

If consensus over re-opening of shops is reached, it would be after a gap of almost over 80 days that shops would reopen in Srinagar district, first time after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

 Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, June 9: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, K.K. Sharma today said that the government has worked out a mechanism for ensuring speedy transportation of the horticultural produce especially the seasonal fruit cherry by way of various interventions.
The Advisor said this while interacting with the representatives of the cherry processing unit holders during his tour to the Harwan horticulture nursery here today where he inspected the activities being undertaken by the Horticulture department.
Director Horticulture, Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat and other senior officers of the department were also present.
The Advisors said that the government is fully abreast with the situation that has arisen out of COVID 19 pandemic due to which the cherry growers and processing unit holders are facing problems. He said necessary steps are being taken for ensuring their transportation to other parts of the country where they are marketed.
The Advisor asked  the Director Horticulture Kashmir to provide all the necessary help to the unit holders with regard to the movement passes and other related things. He said that with regard to the provision of subsidy on transportation of cherry to different terminal markets it would be taken up with the concerned.
Deputy Director Horticulture was nominated as Nodal officer for laisoning with the cherry processing unit holders and taking necessary steps for addressing their grievances.
Director Horticulture informed the Advisor that 215 tonnes of cherry have already been exported to different markets of the country and around 1000 boxes have  been airlifted to Mumbai till date and Cherry canning units have started to function and rest are following . It was also informed that about 2000 tonnes of Raw cherry were exported to different mandies of the country last year besides  6000 tonnes were canned.

7 Task Forces constituted for efficient and speedy implementation

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, June 9: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today chaired a meeting to review the preparations being put in place for speedy implementation of programmes under different pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam, Administrative Secretaries of various departments including Finance, Health and Medical Education; Home, School Education, Agriculture, Revenue, Power Development, Social Welfare; Forests, Ecology and Environment; Labour and Employment; Jal  Shakti, Planning Development & Monitoring and Rural Development & Panchayati Raj participated in the meeting.

While discussing the programme, the Lt Governor said that various measures proposed under the Abhiyan encompassing several schemes will not only boost recovery from the recession caused due to COVID-19 pandemic, but will also enable the Union Territory of J&K to become self reliant.

The Lieutenant Governor was informed that Seven Task Forces have been constituted under the chairmanship of various Administrative Secretaries, mandated with the task of ensuring hassle-free implementation of all the elements of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in mission mode. These task forces will have other Secretaries and Heads of Departments as members and will work on convergence model to ensure optimum utilization of resources and time bound outcomes.

These domain specific Task Forces which have been constituted are on – 1) Farmers and Fishermen’s Welfare, 2) Bank Finance, Credit Revival and Growth, 3) Investment- Industrial Revival and Growth, 4) Power Sector Reforms, 5) Enhancing Technology in and Quality of Education, 6) Improving Healthcare System, 7) Reforms for growth and, 8) Welfare of the poor including migrants and destitute.

The Lt Governor directed for 100% coverage under various beneficiary oriented schemes like distribution of ration to the card holders as well as migrants, payment of relief to Building Construction Workers, Pensions, Fasal Bima Yojna, payments under PM KISAN, issuance of KCC, LPG distribution, Revolving Funds for Self Help Groups etc.

While terming the Healthcare system as a priority, the Lt Governor called for revamping the Healthcare infrastructure to meet challenges in the post COVID-19 scenario, especially focussing on Rural Health and Trauma care facilities in the hazard prone areas like highways and border areas.

He also laid emphasis on working out the requirements to meet expenditure on account of reforms in the Power Sector. Labour reforms including skill development and absorption of returnee labourers and establishment of Labour Courts, promotion of technology driven Education System and Curriculum development, strengthening irrigation system, food and agro processing etc were also laid thrust on.

The Lt Governor asked the officers to work in synergy so that maximum results could be achieved in minimum possible time, adding that COVID-19 has thrown unprecedented challenges which require extra ordinary efforts at all levels.

New Delhi, June 9:  Suspended Jammu and Kashmir DySP Davinder Singh, who was nabbed while ferrying two Hizbul Mujahideen militants on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, moved a Delhi court on Tuesday seeking interim bail.

Besides Singh, two other accused — Syed Naveed Mushtaq and Imran Shafi Mir — have also sought bail. The Special Cell of the Delhi Police is probing their role in the alleged planning of a militant attack.

The trio has sought bail asserting that there is no evidence to show that there was any conspiracy to commit an act that would threaten the sovereignty of the country. The court has listed the matter for hearing on Wednesday.

“The accused are wrongly and falsely implicated in the case. There is also no material to substantiate that the accused had the intention or conspired to carry out a terror strike,” the plea stated.

Singh is currently under judicial custody at the Hira Nagar Jail in J&K till June 16. Besides Singh, three other accused — Javed Iqbal, Syed Naveed Mushtaq and Imran Shafi Mir — are also under custody.

Delhi Police’s Special Cell had brought him from Hira Nagar Jail to the national capital in March for interrogation in another case.

The police had earlier told the court that Mushtaq, who was the commander of Hizbul Mujahiddeen in Shopian district, along with other militants were planning to execute an  attack in Delhi and other parts of the country and targeted killings of protected persons.

In connection with this, the Delhi Police had filed an FIR which stated that the youth of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab are being trained for carrying out militant activities. Singh was taken into custody under this FIR and was also interrogated regarding the Khalistan angle. (Agencies)