Srinagar, August 27
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the University of Kashmir (KU) to return 209 artifacts to the state museum within two weeks.

The Bench also directed the university authorities to file a status report in this regard.

The High Court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Valley Citizens Council, an NGO, wherein it has been prayed that the court should order the restoration of museums and recovery of the stolen items in the state.

The state government in its status report, while conceding that the stolen items are still ‘untraceable’, had told the court that all possible steps for recovering or finding the stolen items are being taken.

Earlier, the High Court had directed the Director Archives, Archeology and Museums, J&K, to depute experts to conduct a survey and submit a report. Subsequently, the expert committee in its survey report, while highlighting some peculiar features, has stated that many items have been rented out by state museums to the Central Asian Museum of the KU.

There are as many as 209 items that have been rented out to the Central Asian Museum of the KU from Shri Pratap Singh (SPS) Museum, Srinagar, in August 25, 1980, it said.

In its fresh orders passed today, the High Court has directed university authorities to return the 209 rented items to the state museums within two weeks,” a counsel connected with the case said.

He said the authorities concerned had been further directed to file a status report in this regard by the next hearing.

Srinagar, August 27
Pointing out that nearly 40 positions are lying vacant at Government Medical College in Jammu and Srinagar, the J&K High Court has directed the authorities concerned to act swiftly and fill these posts at the earliest.

It has further directed the authorities concerned to file a status report to the court in this regard.

These directions were passed by the Division Bench of the J&K Court headed by Chief Justice MM Kumar. The court is hearing a PIL filed in the wake of infant deaths at GB Pant Children Hospital last year.

Earlier in July, the Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department in its affidavit to the court had said that that it had referred the vacant positions of lecturers at Government Medical College in Srinagar and Jammu to the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Out of these forwarded vacancies, recommendations for filling up 38 posts of lecturers in different departments have been received, which includes 23 posts at GMC, Srinagar, and 15 posts at GMC, Jammu.

The court on July 8 had asked the commissioner or secretary, H&ME Department to explain what steps have been taken to fill up the vacant posts at the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar and Jammu.

“In pursuance to the order dated 8/7/2013, two affidavits have been filed by the Commissioner/Secretary Health and Additional Secretary to the state government. In both the affidavits, an effort has been made to depict the number of vacancies at Government Medical Colleges of Srinagar and Jammu,” the Bench observed in its orders while referring to the contents of the fresh affidavits.

“A perusal of the affidavits would show that there are a large number of vacancies in both GMC Srinagar and Jammu. The overall result is that almost 40 posts are lying vacant in the GMCs, the High Court further observed.

“We expect the respondents to act swiftly and make an endeavour to fill vacant posts by all lawful methods available, whether by referring vacancies to the PSC, DPC or invoking the provisions of the SRO 384 of 2009. The needful shall be done at the earliest and status report shall be furnished on the next date of hearing,” the High Court directed in its orders.

Earlier in his submissions, senior additional advocate general Javed Kawoosa had pointed out that in charge arrangements had been made in both the colleges.

However, the court observed that the in charge arrangements would not satisfy the requirements of human resources to deal with the pressure of patients.

Anantnag, August 27
The police has arrested five shopkeepers from the Arwani area of Bijbehara, Anantnag, following the militant attack in which a member of the Special Operations Group was gunned down yesterday.

The locals, amid heavy deployment of police and paramilitary force, observed a complete shutdown against the detention of the shopkeepers.

Reports said that all shops, schools, colleges and other places of work remained closed throughout the day.

“All vehicular movements remained suspended and an uneasy calm prevailed in the area,” a local journalist said.

On Monday, suspected militants had fired multiple shots at Salamatullah Khan, a police constable of Baramulla district, killing him on the spot. A civilian had also received a bullet injury during the incident. “He was discharged from the hospital and is stable now,” the reports said. The police, Army and the CRPF had cordoned off the area following the shootout. However, they were unable to trace the assailants.

Sources said the shopkeepers from the area were arrested on Monday evening. The police maintains that the shopkeepers have been summoned to the police station for questioning.

“They are the eyewitnesses to whatever transpired in Arwani yesterday,” said Bijbehara SHO Athar Khan. “We have sought their help to get information about the militants,” he added. The shopkeepers remained in police custody until the last reports came in.

Children dressed as Lord Krishna and his consort Radha take part in the colourful procession

Lal said the fast would be broken in midnight. Meanwhile, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Saifuddin Soz greeted the people on Janmashtami.

Kashmiri pandits during the religious procession on the occasion of Janmashtami celebrations at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Tuesday. Tribune Photos: Amin War

Soz hoped that the occasion would be a harbinger of prosperity and development of the people and the whole country. Meanwhile, Legislative Council chairman Amrit Malhotra and Legislative Assembly Speaker Mubarak Gul also greeted the people on the occasion of Janmashtami.

Extending their wishes, particularly, Hindu brethren, they said celebrating festivals was an old tradition of the people of the state, which, they added, not only strengthens our mutual brotherhood, but also forms our religious beliefs.

Both leaders appealed to the people to pray for peace, prosperity and development of the state while joining in religious congregations to celebrate the festival.

Srinagar, August 27
The J&K High Court has directed the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) and the Pollution Control Board (PCB) to inspect the Achen garbage dumping site to resolve the controversy related to the operation of Lechate treatment plant at the site.

During the previous hearing on August 20, the PCB mentioned in its status report that the Lechate treatment plant was operational at the Achen site, whereas the CEO of the ERA in his submissions to the court had said the Lechate treatment plant at Acehn has been made operational and further arrangements for running the plant at least for 20 hours are being made.

However, while hearing the matter today, the Bench headed by the chief secretary expressed its displeasure over the non-implementation of the court orders and the callousness exhibited by the government authorities in implementing them.

The Bench further directed the PCB and the CEO ERA to visit the Achen garbage dumping site to resolve the controversy about the operation of the Lechate treatment plant and submit their respective reports by the next hearing, which has been fixed for August 29.

The High Court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by the people living near the Achin garbage dumping site on the outskirts of Srinagar city.

Srinagar, August 27
The Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League and the region’s Grand Mufti, Bashiruddin Ahmad, today opposed the concert of internationally acclaimed music maestro Zubin Mehta, scheduled to be held at the Mughal-era Shalimar garden next month.

The Jamaat-e-Islami said the concert was of “no use to the people of Kashmir”.

“As reported by the media, a whopping amount is being spent on the show. This has stirred genuine political apprehension among the Kashmiris,” the socio-political group said in a statement.

It appealed to the “German envoy in India” not to “waste such a huge sum” on the concert which it termed a “futile exercise”. The group also raised Bombay born Mehta’s Israeli connection, saying he had “deep roots and relations with a country which was involved in the massacre of thousands of innocent Palestinians”.

The Jamaat-e-Islami said the German Government should instead spend the money on welfare projects in Kashmir.

The Grand Mufti, who had previously said he would not talk on the issue, also objected to the concert, saying “it is not good” to concentrate on the event and leave other issues untouched.

“Kashmir is a disturbed area and there are lots of problems. We cannot solve these problems with music programmes,” he said.

The Muslim League also opposed the concert, saying the international community should not organise “any programme” in Kashmir until the Kashmir issue was resolved.

Zubin Mehta’s concert, which is scheduled to take place on September 7 at the Shalimar garden on the banks of the Dal Lake, has already faced opposition from hardline and moderate separatist groups and also from civil society members.

Srinagar, August 27
Two days after a portion of prime land of the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) was encroached upon by a group of Sumo drivers, the authorities in Srinagar have failed to get it vacated.

The SDA has lodged a complaint against the encroachers at the Kothi Bagh police station. The SDA in its complaint has alleged that the drivers broke into the SDA Divisional Store near the Sangarmal City Centre on the M A Road on Sunday to establish a taxi stand. The drivers have been accused of vandalising the SDA property before encroaching on the land.

“A case has been registered against them and law will take its own course,” said SDA vice-chairman Mohammad Shafi Rather.

“These people (Sumo drivers) had approached me twice for establishing the Sumo stand at the SDA land, but I told them that the High Court was hearing a PIL on traffic regulation and it was not possible for him to allot the land,” he added.

Sources in the SDA said it was shocking that even after two days no action had been taken against them.

“This encroachment is brazen and it has made mockery of all of us,” said another official of the SDA.

The sources said the sumo drivers were enjoying the support of a ruling party which is ensuring that the government did not remove these encroachers from the area. Police sources said they had registered a case and written to the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner to demarcate the land of the SDA.

“We are waiting for a report from the DC,” the police sources said.

Srinagar, August 27
The privilege committee of the JK Legislative Council (LC) today asked the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) security to improve the airport transport system, a spokesman said.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Jugal Kishore and had a discussion on the privilege notice moved by Legislator Ravinder Kumar Sharma against the Superintendent of Police (anti-hijack) Srinagar for not providing transport facility at the Srinagar airport, the spokesman said.

“A discussion was held on the subject while the committee asked the authorities concerned to take necessary corrective measures for improving the system to avoid recurrence of such incidents in the future,” the spokesman said.

The committee asked the authorities concerned to entrust the job to one of the senior officers who would coordinate with the visiting legislators with regards to arranging transport and other facilities at the airport.

Legislators Ali Mohamad Dar and Ghulam Nabi Monga, besides ADGP Security VK Singh, senior Superintendent of Police (security) Rafiq-ul-Hassan, and SP (anti-hijack), Srinagar, Abdul Rasheed Bhat, were present at the meeting. — TNS

Srinagar, August 27
Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution and Transport, Mohammad Ramzan on Tuesday visited the Pampore Gas bottling plant to take stock of the facility and it's functioning.

The plant has the capacity of refilling 11,000 HP gas cylinders a day and supplies dealers for the onward distribution to the consumers throughout the state. It has a bulk storage capacity of 3,520 MT which is sufficient for lasting as many as 40 days drawn at full capacity.

An official spokesman said the minister also awarded dealership rights under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitarak (RGGLV) scheme to the eligible candidates of Vadora, Sopore after the successful draw of lots.

"The minister on the occasion called for expediting the process of awarding dealership rights further to increase the LPG penetration in the rural areas to ensure its availability in sufficient quantity and at people's doorsteps," the spokesman said.

Jammu, August 27
The Jammu and Kashmir Agricultural Technocrats’ Association (JKATA) today reiterated its demand for regularisation of employees, who are engaged under the Rehbar-e-Ziraat (ReZ) scheme and have completed seven years continuous services in the agriculture department.

“The state government has provoked the Rehbar-e-Ziraat workers by implying the merit-based regularisation order which has been forwarded to respective directorates of Jammu and Kashmir divisions,” Surinder Radotra, president of the association said.

Radotra opposed the decision of recently held review meeting which was chaired by the Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir. “The outcome of the meeting was against the aspirations of the ReZ,” he said.

He alleged that the state government had made a wrong decision by giving weightage to restricted 100 points, including B Sc Agriculture (75 points), M Sc (15 points), Ph D (10 points) instead of following seniority according to years of passing.

“Nearly 80 per cent of the ReZ employees have become overage as some of them had attained degrees in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999,” he said.

“The government has created a confusion among ReZ employees who have been waiting for regularisation. It should regularise all ReZ employees by giving preference to the date of passing of the degree,” the JKATA leader said.

Jammu, August 27
JK Public School (JKPS) got the better of KC International School in the final to clinch the U-19 boys table tennis title in the two-day long inter-school competitions being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) at different venues.

In the final match, JKPS outplayed KC International School by 3-0. Earlier, in the semifinals, KC International defeated Delhi Public School by 3-0 while JKPS trounced Heritage School by a margin of 3-0. The JKPS team comprised Sanpreet Singh, Amber Sharma, Dhrevin Rometra and Raghav Gupta.

Meanwhile, the U-19 boys tug of war trophy went to Guru Harkrishan Public School after they defeated Banyan International by 2-1.

In the semifinals, Banyan International cruised past J and K Police Public School by 2-1 while Guru Harkrishan Public outclassed Army Public School Domana by 2-1.

Results Preliminary Round: Guru Harkrishan Public beat St Xavier Convent Barnai 2-1; JK Police Public School beat SRML HSS 2-0; Banyan International beat Oriental Academy 2-0; ASP Domana beat MIER 2-0; St. Xavir Convent blanked New National HSS by 2-0.

The tug of war matches were officiated by Ravinder Singh, Chander Kanta, Anju Rani and Dinesh Kumar of the DYSS.