Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has sought opinion about a news report suggesting that the matters pertaining to NIA and detention had been shifted from Justice Atul Sreedharan after his “bold rulings against” the establishment.
A division bench opined “the worthy Registrar Judicial be pleased to place the matter before the Chief Justice (acting) Tashi Rabstan to consider whether this matter should be placed before an appropriate bench for initiation of criminal contempt against the publishers”.
The bench also requested “the bench may not have Justice Atul Sreedharan, as part of the controversy relates to him”.
The report carried recently by ‘The Hindu’ newspaper had suggested that the matters of NIA and Habeas Corpus were reassigned from the bench led by Justice Atul Sreedharan due to an “unprecedented change” in the roaster and that the judge had gone on a “protest” leave because of the midway change of the roaster.
According to a High Court notification dated 28.06.2024, a roaster had been issued by the Chief Justice (acting) for the period commencing from 1st July, 2024 to 28th September, 2024.
A division bench (DB-I) in the Srinagar Wing of the High Court headed by the Chief Justice (acting), was assigned matters including LPAs in Habeas Corpus petitions of both wings.
Similarly, a DB-II headed by Justice Atul Sreedharan had been constituted to hear NIA and Habaeus Corpus petitions for the period commencing from 29th July to 28th September 2024.
However, vide an order dated 14.08.2024, the roaster was modified. “The subject matters relating to NIA cases for admission, orders and hearing and all Habeas Corpus petitions for admission, orders and hearing were retained by the Chief Justice (acting)”.
Again vide an order dated 30.08.2024, the Chief Justice (acting) constituted a Special Bench comprising Justice Rajnesh Oswal, and Justice Mohammad Akram Chowdhary, in the Srinagar Wing of the High Court and assigned it the hearing of the cases including all NIA matters, orders and hearing besides all Habeas Corpus petitions for admission, orders and hearing.
A Registrar General’s note asserts that the Chief Justice has from time to time constituted special benches for prioritizing olds cases, detention and liberty matters and in this regard.
The newspaper reported that the change in the roaster came in the wake of a series of “bold and incisive rulings” by Justice Sreedharan that garnered attention for his “fearless approach” in several high-profile cases.
Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice M Y Wani, presiding over the matter relating to the news-report claimed that the roaster changes were a routine matter.
The bench stated, “The factual aspect given the social media and the newspaper, whereby it was alleged that the roaster was shifted midway from the bench headed by Atul Sreedharan was false, malicious, and contemptuous and amounts to interference in the administration of justice.”
It underscored that the roaster changes were implemented to ensure the expeditious hearing of sensitive cases and that there was no abrupt or irregular reassignment of matters.
It stated that Justice Sreedharan had taken a medical leave on September 2, 2024, and that it was unrelated to any administrative decision.
The bench further said that such media inference creates a false and damaging perception that the judge had a vested interest in handling specific cases.
