PIL against Jammu and Kashmir officials for not hoisting state flag SRINAGAR: Monday marked yet another black day on January 26 in Kashmir valley since militancy erupted in the valley in 1990s, and the second Republic Day since a retired forest conservator Abdul Qayoom Khan filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions for the government to declare November 17 as the Republic Day of Jammu & Kashmir in accordance with its separate constitution and governance structure. Khan said in his PIL that he was hurt over the constitutional authorities in the state including the governor, the judges and members of the executive not hoisting the state flag on their cars and offices. It constitutes breach of the provisions of law, the PIL said. The state government has not responded to two notices issued by the high court in this regard in the past one year. J&K started drafting its own constitution by setting up the Constituent Assembly on May 1, 1951. It completed the exercise and was dissolved on January 25, 1957. But the constitution was enacted by the assembly on November 17, 1956. The state started celebrating the Republic Day with the rest of the country only when Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad started hoisting the tricolour on January 26. Ace lawyer Zafar Shah, who initially appeared in the court regarding the PIL, said all constitutional authorities in the state are obliged to follow the constitution in letter and spirit. In practical terms it means all the constitutional authorities are required to hoist the state flag and also celebrate Republic Day on the date when the constitution was adopted, he said. The petition alleged that the use of Indian flag and no other flag amounted to contempt of the constitution of the state. Though the civil secretariat in Srinagar and Jammu has both the flags, the state and the national flag unfurled over it, and the chief minister and most of the Kashmir ministers use it on their cars, most of the lawmakers and the top executives skip its use. Even the high court and the judges do not use it. In 2007, the state legislature amended the J&K Prevention of Insult to the State Honour Act 1979 by punishing the offenders by a year-long imprisonment. The move was in response to reports that the autonomous hill development councils that the state legislative assembly created for Leh and Kargil had created their own logos and instead of using state flag, they were only hoisting the tricolour. A member had also protested against a BJP lawmaker not using the state flag on his car. J&Ks flag is a rectangular (3:2), deep red flag with three equidistant white vertical strips of equal width next to the staff and a white plough in the middle with the handle facing the stripes. The red field represents labour, the plough agriculture and three white stripes represent the three geographic regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The state governments law department did not respond to the notice issued by Justice DS Thakur on March 20, 2014. The second set of notices was issued to the state government, the assembly speaker, chairman of the legislative council and the registrar of the high court by Justice Hasnain Massodi on November 10, 2014. The case is pending. A law ministry official in Srinagar said that there is a dichotomy in the constitutional relationship between the state and the Union. Our constitution is linked to the constitution of India through Article 370. It is uncommon knowledge that the Constitution of India has a separate copy that applies to the state of J&K, he said. But the PIL triggered a debate in the valley, prompting independent lawmaker Engineer Rashid, who later floated his own party, to lead his followers to a park in Srinagar on June 7 last year to unfurl the state flag and celebrate states national day. The states constituent assembly had adopted the state flag on June 7, 1952. By the time, he and his followers finishing singing the state anthem, BJP activists were already on the roads in Jammu seeking a police case against him. This (flag) is a symbol of our identity. We have given blood for it and will spill more if it requires, Rashid said, adding that BJPs oneflag, one-constitution was not applicable to J&K. J&K started drafting its own constitution by setting up the Constituent Assembly on May 1, 1951. It completed the exercise and was dissolved on January 25, 1957.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 03:16:25 +0000
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