SC clears Javed Iqbal Wani for elevation as Judge of J&K HC

TNN Bureau. Updated: 1/24/2020 9:39:59 AM Front Page

JAMMU: Months after his name was rejected by it, the Supreme Court collegium has now approved the proposal for elevation of Advocate Javed Iqabl Wani as judge to J&K High Court.
The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, approved Wani’s elevation from the advocate quota.
His proposal was earlier withheld for clearance with sources citing strong opposition from Centre for Wani, who is the son-in-law of Kashmir Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom, who was recently summoned by NIA for his alleged links with separatists.
"The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on January 22, 2020, after taking into consideration the material on record, has approved the proposal for elevation of Javed Iqbal Wani, advocate, as Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court," said one of the collegium resolutions uploaded on the apex court website.
Wani’s name has been forwarded to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for the requisite clearance followed by submission to the Prime Minister’s Office for final approval of the Union Government and thereafter to the President of India for issuance of the warrant of appointment.
Wani has joined two more advocates-- Rajnesh Oswal and Moksha Kazmi, awaiting Centre’s clearance.
If approved, the trio’s appointment as judges will raise the strength of the state’s High Court to 11 from present 8, against the sanctioned strength of 17.
Their names, along with that of Advocate Rahul Bharti were forwarded by J&K high court collegium in March 2019. While the Supreme Court collegiums in October 2019 cleared Kazmi and Oswal for elevation, names of Wani and Bharti were withheld.
Sources said, Wani, once a favourite of New Delhi, couldn’t make it to the list in October last year courtesy an adverse intelligence report about him even though he was appointed as senior additional advocate general in February that year.
56-year-old Wani, also the First Gold Medalist in Law from Kashmir University, had handled several high-profile cases, and even represented the Indian Army in the Pathribal fake encounter case. However, he was stung by the report which linked him to his father-in-law Mian Abdul Qayoom, the influential president of the Kashmir Bar Association.
The sources in Valley know Qayoom as one of the founding members of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference led by separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Qayoom has assisted separatists in a number of legal affairs and was also against the revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A, they said.
Qayoom was also summoned by the National Investigation Agency last year for his alleged role in funding of terror organizations and he was detained a number of times in 2017, including under the Public Safety Act, on charges of spreading anti-India propaganda.
Among those detained by the J&K Police after August 5, Qayoom was also one.
“Wani’s name will be soon forwarded to Centre in ‘the next few days’ for their approval following which the President will issue a formal warrant of their appointment,” credible sources informed.
Once approved by President, he will be initially appointed as judges of the HC for a two-year period as an additional judge and then will be conferred the status of a permanent judge after the collegium is satisfied with their judicial work.
The elevation of Wani, along with Kazmi and Oswal as HC judges will provide for an inadequate yet much-needed breather for the already weaker- in terms of numbers- higher judicial system of the state which presently has only 8 Judges against the sanctioned strength of 17 (including Chief Justice)-- 13 Permanent Judges and 4 Additional Judges.
The other 8 judges are Chief Justice Gita Mittal, Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Sanjeev Kumar Shukla, Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta, and Justice Sindhu Sharma.


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