Court Grants Time for Response to GAD’s Statement
The Diplomat Desk
Jammu,(TDD): As in the case relating to the stampede at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan that claimed the lives of 12 pilgrims and left several others with injuries, the Division Bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court granted further time to the petitioner to respond to the GAD’s Statement of Facts.
Advocates Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed had filed a Public Interest Litigation PIL No. 12/2022 and related Contempt Petition CCP(D) No. 22/2024. The petitions have sought disclosure of a 3-member enquiry report that the Jammu and Kashmir government had commissioned soon after the stampede incident on the night of December 31, 2021, and January 1, 2022.
Counsels, Advocate H.A. Siddiqui for the petitioner and Advocate Supriya Chouhan, while arguing on the Statement of Facts by the GAD, contended that in the entire statement of facts, no mention was made of what actually caused the tragic incident or lapses on the part of the officials who led to it.
They said the fact that the report that is supposed to identify failures and assign responsibility thereto had not come into public domain nor did it find its way into any changes even after the court directive to the previous judgments passed in this case.
The court, presided over by Acting Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M.A. Chowdhary, directed the petitioner to file a formal response to the submission made before it by the GAD on the next date of hearing. The next session of the contempt petition is scheduled for October 21, 2024.
GAD was represented through Advocate Eishaan Dadhichi, while Advocate Atul Verma appeared for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
To such effect, the stampede case remains one of the key public interest issues. What the court did in directing the panel to deliberate further speaks to the accountability and transparency in the incident. (TDD)
