HC rejects sacked Assistant Professor’s plea to contest LS poll

Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has junked a petition to contest Parliamentary elections as independent candidate from Anantnag-Rajouri segment by Abdul Bari Naik, the assistant professor who was sacked from service by the Lieutenant Governor in April 2021 “in the interest of security of the State” under Article 311 of the Constitution of India.
While dismissing the plea, a bench of Justice Sindhu Sharma said Naik was aware that he been dismissed from the office and as such disqualified for a period of five years of the dismissal till he provides a certificate from Election Commission that he has not been dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the State.
“That is precisely why the petitioner made a representation and even appeared before the Election Commission. The petitioner, however, did not reveal the rejection of his application when the matter was taken up for consideration (by Election Commission) on 18th and 19th of April, 2024”.
The court said the nomination of candidates is provided in part-V of the Representation of the Peoples Act.
The court referred to Section 33 of the Act in its judgment which states theta where the candidate is a person who, having held any office referred to in section 9 has been dismissed and a period of five years has not elapsed since the dismissal, such person shall not be deemed to be duly nominated as a candidate unless his nomination paper is accompanied by a certificate issued in the prescribed manner by the Election Commission to the effect that he has not been dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the State.
In his plea, petiole had stated that he is an activist having “strong and robust background of having served the people of Jammu & Kashmir for last so many years.” He said that him being actively involved in public life is desirous of contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections from Parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.
The government said the Naik was dismissed from service as such his nomination paper was to be accompanied by a certificate issued in the prescribed manner by Election Commission and he would not be a duly nominated candidate unless his nomination was accompanied by a certificate issued by the Election Commission under Section 9(2) of the Act.

Election