SRINAGAR: Justice Ali Mohammed Magrey, Judge High Court of J&K and Ladakh and Administrative Judge for Srinagar District today chaired a meeting at the Conference Hall of District Court Complex (DCC), Moominabad here to discuss various issues of public importance.
The meeting focused on the issue of an alarming rise in pendency at District Courts Srinagar and it was found that the main reason for the sharp rise in the number of pending cases is the excessive number of virtual challans received in Virtual Court, Srinagar from the Traffic Police City Srinagar and dismal disposal due to nonappearance of the violators in the court for trial.
The Pr. District and Sessions Judge, Jawad Ahmed highlighted the issue that the addition of around 50,000 e-Challans in a short span has raised the pendency of District Srinagar in National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and it has far-reaching consequences.
It was also pointed out by the Special Mobile Magistrate (Traffic), Kashmir that there is no mechanism in place to summon and ensure the production of violators in physical court which resultantly has raised the pendency graph sharply in the last couple of months.
The meeting resolved that the IG Traffic along with his team of officers shall hold successive meetings with Principal District Judge and the Traffic Magistrates to work out means and methods to resolve a host of issues qua e-Challan and to reduce the pendency by putting in place mechanism for service of summons and production of violators before the court, also by other means like holding of special Lok Adalats for Traffic challan in the forthcoming week, sensitization of public about the e-Challans and the consequences of not responding to such challans, through Print and electronic media and any other appropriate methods.
The meeting also discussed the menace of condemned vehicles being run in Srinagar city which do not have documents at all, not even the insurance certificates.
It was suggested in the meeting that the Transport Commissioner and DC Srinagar and other stakeholders shall look into the possibility of giving the owners of these vehicles an option whereby they shall be given facility of easy and subsidized loan, hassle-free documentation etc for replacing these old condemned vehicles in a time-bound manner.
The issue of unauthorized barricading by Traffic Police also came under discussion which the IG Traffic and other stakeholders undertook and assured the chair that the problem shall be resolved by visiting the trouble spots and all steps shall be taken to remove the bottlenecks to avoid unnecessary barricades which cause undue hassle to the public at large.
The issue of establishment of a full-fledged dispensary in the court complex also came under discussion and the Deputy Director of Health undertook on behalf of the Health Department that doctors and paramedical staff besides an ambulance and testing facility shall be soon provided in the court complex.
The issue of security and provision for sufficient manpower was also considered in the meeting and ASP Srinagar, Arif assured the chair on behalf of SSP, Srinagar that sufficient policemen including female cops shall be kept at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor, District Court Srinagar to meet daily exigencies.
He further undertook to streamline the execution of court processes including execution of warrants and production of witnesses by creating special units at DPO and in each Police Station in the Srinagar district.
Fazlul Haseeb, Additional Deputy Commissioner Srinagar representing Deputy Commissioner Srinagar assured the chair that the issue of shifting Juvenile Justice Board Srinagar and Munsiff Court Pantha Chowk shall be given priority and the same will be shifted to safer place after consulting PDJ, Srinagar at the earliest.
The officers of various Engineering wings assured the chair that the issue of maintenance of the Court Complex shall be addressed immediately without any further delay.
Joint Director SMC Srinagar and Chief Engineer undertook that issues regarding maintaining water ATMs, stray dogs and up gradation of road from Batmaloo to Moominabad under Smart City Project shall be dealt with on priority and no stone shall remain unturned to meet the target in a time-bound manner.
Justice Magrey impressed upon all the stakeholders to work with all sincerity and fairness to make the court complex at par with the best in the country. He assured the officers that all possible help shall be given to them in getting funds from the government and also in removing the obstacles which come across in execution of the works as discussed during the meeting.
The meeting was attended by Jawad Ahmed, Pr. District & Sessions Judge, Srinagar, Bhupinder Kumar, Transport Commissioner, J&K, Vikramjit Singh, IG Traffic Jammu & Kashmir Javed Koul, DIG Traffic, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Bhat, CJM Srinagar, Parvaiz Iqbal, Special Mobile Magistrate (Traffic), Kashmir, Shabir Ahmad Malik, Addl. Mobile Magistrate (traffic), Srinagar, Sajid Naqash, RTO Srinagar, Fazlul Haseeb, ADC Srinagar, Manzoor Ahmed, SSP Traffic Rural.
Muzaffar Shah, SSP Traffic City Srinagar, Nasir Murtaza, Deputy Director Prosecution, Srinagar, Mohd Rafiq Chief Engineer R&B, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Rather Director, Floriculture Kashmir, Imtiyaz Ahmad Kirmani Ex. Engineer, Mechanical Srinagar
After the meeting, Justice Magrey inspected the court of 2nd and 3rd Addl District & Sessions Judge, Srinagar, Forest Magistrate, City Judge, Railway Court, Special Mobile Magistrate (Traffic) and Addl. Mobile Magistrate (Traffic) in the second round of inspections of Courts at District Headquarters.
