Diplomat Correspondent
Jammu:DD, A Division Bench of High Court of J&K and Ladakh at Jammu comprising Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice MA Chowdhary extended further time to Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed appearing for the petitioners to file suggestions to the Report of the Four Members Expert Committee which had been constituted by the Division Bench.
The expert committee was constituted vide its order dated December 7th, 2023 comprising Professor (Rtd.) G.M. Bhat Geology Department, University of Jammu (Member, UNESCO Board of Experts on Natural Hazards), Dr. Ankit Kathuria, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Jammu, Jagti, Nagrota, Jammu, Major Gaurav Tewari O/C 118RCC (GREF) C/O 156 APO, Er. Mohinder Kumar, Executive Engineer (Rtd.) A/P near Grid Station, Opposite Y Block Govt. Quarters, Subhash Nagar, Jammu to inspect various sites of the Ramban, Batote-Doda-Kishtwar, National High Way Road which are prone to accident and the Committee had been directed to find out the reasons for these frequent and repeated road accidents which are taking place in these areas and the Committee was also requested to suggest the measures to be taken with regard to make the aforesaid areas accident free. The Division Bench had also directed the Committee to inspect the Mughal Road also to find out the causes of accidents.
When three much publicized Public Interest Litigations (PILs) titled Intakhab Ahmed Qazi V/s State and Others (WP(C) PIL No. 30/2019) connected with PIL No.01/2018 titled District Bar Association Doda through its President S.A. Hashmi and PIL No.WP(C) PIL No.13/2022 titled Asif Iqbal Butt V/s State and Others (Letter converted to PIL) and PIL No. 08/2022 titled Smile Social Youth Club of J&K V/s State and Others, highlighting frequent road accidents (dance of death) on the National Highway (NH44) and Mughal Road came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina and Supriya Chouhan appearing for the petitioners submitted that the four members Expert Committee after inspecting the Ramban, Batote-Doda-Kishtwar Road National Highway and Mughal Road has submitted its detailed Report indicating the reasons for frequent and repeated road accidents.
He further submitted that the Expert Committee in its Report also suggested measures for preventing the frequent accidents in the vulnerable areas.
Advocate S. S. Ahmed further submitted that the Nodal Officer i.e. Divisional Commissioner, Jammu has also submitted the suggestions to the Report of the Expert Committee and it was on October 30th, 2024 the Division Bench had granted time to the petitioners to file their suggestions to the Report of the Expert Committee.
Advocate S. S. Ahmed further submitted that he is in touch with some experts and also the petitioners to file the suggestions to the Report of the Expert Committee and sought some more time to do the needful. Advocate Navneet Dubey also appeared for petitioner in PIL No.08/2022 titled Smile Social Youth Club of J&K V/s State and Others
After considering the submissions of Advocate S. S. Ahmed, the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan extended more time to Advocate S. S. Ahmed to do the needful in terms of previous order dated October 30th, 2024. Senior AAG S. S. Nanda appeared for UT of J&K whereas DSGI Vishal Sharma appeared for NHIDCL.
The Division Bench directed the Registry to re-notify the instant PIL on April 22nd, 2025.DD
