SRINAGAR: The High Court on Tuesday disposed a litigation which has sought a direction to government to notify a decision on the applications and appeals that were pending before formar State Information Commission (SIC) in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Court while disposing the matter took the statement of Additional Advocate General (AAG), B A Dar on record which submitted that concerned authorities in the government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are in the process of framing rules with regard to the subject matter involved in the instant petition and that the government will evolve a mechanism for dealing with the cases pending before the erstwhile State Information Commission (now abolished in terms of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act of 2019), as expeditiously as possible.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur said, “We feel that no useful purpose can be achieved by keeping the instant petition pending and that same can be closed by directing the government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to do the needful with reference to the grievance projected by the petitioners.”
Earlier the petitioners, Abrar Reyaz and Mohammad Khurram had asked court the fate of the cases pending before the State Information Commission was not known after Right to information, Act 2009 was abolished in terms of application of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.
The petitioners had said that as many as 364 cases, including 131 complaints and 233 appeals were pending before the State Information Commission and that nobody knows as to what will happen to these cases since the government has not issued any notification or order in this behalf.
The petitioners had also sought condonation for delay on all the applications where the statutory time limit of 90 days for submitting the second appeal lapsed due to abolition of the State Information Commission.

NUSRAT SIDIQ