High Court closes PIL seeking special quota for Kashmiri Pandits in professional colleges across India

The requests as made in the representation in the first instance has to be dealt with at the level of the government and it is not appropriate for the court to examine the justification of the same at this juncture, a Division Bench stated.

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has closed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking special quota in various professional colleges across India to the Kashmiri Pandits, stating that the issue has to be dealt with at the government level.

Disposing of the PIL by ‘Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samiti’ which had sought the intervention of the High Court for taking appropriate action on the two representations they had made to the Ministry of Education, regarding the special quota, a division bench of Chief justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Vinod Chaterji Koul said: “ The requests as made in the representation in the first instance has to be dealt with at the level of the government and it is not appropriate for the court to examine the justification of the same at this juncture”.

The Court disposed of the petition with the direction to J&K’s Chief Secretary to consider the grievance of the petitioner as raised in the two representations in accordance with the law most expeditiously.

“It will be open to the petitioner to submit a comprehensive representation highlighting all their grievances, if they so desire, within a period of two weeks from today and it will be open for the Chief Secretary to consider the same as directed,” Court said.

The PIL was filed by ‘Kashmiri Pandit Sangarash Samiti’, an association of Kashmiri Pandits in 2019. However, the Association President had sought directions to the government to take appropriate action on the representations dated April 9, 2018 and March 1, 2019 they had submitted to the Central government.

The Association also demanded a special quota for the Kashmiri Migrants Pandits and to those Pandits living in Kashmir Valley in professional colleges across the country. It also wanted necessary instructions to be issued to the concerned institutions, colleges, universities so that deserving candidates may get the benefit of the said policy.

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