J&K HC to set up special bench for plea against LG’s powers of nominate 5 MLAs

JAMMU: Chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh high court justice Tashi Rabstan on Thursday agreed to constitute a special division bench next week to hear a petition challenging the lieutenant governor’s (LG’s) authority to nominate five members to the J&K legislative assembly.

Justice Rabstan agreed to constitute a special bench on Monday after lawyer DK Khajuria sought early listing of the petition filed by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee senior vice president Ravinder Sharma.

Sharma had initially approached the Supreme Court against Sections 15, 15A and 15B of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, which empower the LG to nominate five members to the assembly, potentially altering the elected body’s composition. The top court, however, declined to hear the plea at this stage and asked the petitioner to first approach the high court.

A political firestorm erupted over the LG’s powers ahead of the declaration of assembly election results after a local BJP leader claimed that five party members would be nominated by the LG.

Sharma said the Congress immediately approached the Supreme Court and filed a petition on October 8, the day the votes were counted. “However, the mandate gave a clear majority to the NC- Congress coalition. The petition came up before the division bench of the Supreme Court on October 14,” he added.

During the brief proceeding in the Supreme Court on Oct 14, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi explained the petitioner’s primary concern. “Suppose I have a strength of 48 in the 90-member assembly. That’s three above the majority mark. If the LG nominates five MLAs, the other side can become 47 and it boils down to just one member. You can completely frustrate the electoral mandate by using this power... what if they decided to raise the nomination from five to 10 in the future,” Singhvi contended. The bench later declined to entertain the petition.

The National Conference emerged victorious in the recent elections, winning 42 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) secured six and one seat, respectively, bringing the coalition’s tally to 49. The NC’s position was further strengthened with support from several Independent candidates and the sole MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), pushing its numbers comfortably beyond the majority mark.