In a first, J&K HC holds court from LoC

SRINAGAR: Justice Sanjeev Kumar , the senior-most judge of the high court of J&K and Ladakh, presided over a division bench’s proceedings from the remote and picturesque Gurez Valley near the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Tuesday, a historic first in the judicial history of J&K, according to the HC.

“Justice Sanjeev Kumar was on an official trip there and he heard all the listed cases from Munsiff Court at Gurez through virtual mode,” an official statement from the HC said, adding that “the historic bench comprised of Justices Sanjeev Kumar and Sanjay Parihar.”

Justice Parihar was sitting in Jammu.

Gurez Valley, about 123 km from Srinagar, saw heavy shelling from Pakistan during Operation Sindoor earlier this year. Like other places of J&K, tourism in the Gurez valley also suffered a major setback after all tourist spots were closed following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. However, Gurez was among the first destinations to reopen in July, and since then, the place has been buzzing with tourism activity.

The HC statement said lawyers attended their cases from Jammu and Srinagar wings of the HC through video conferencing facility. “As many as 45 cases from Jammu wing and five cases from Kashmir wing were heard, exhausting the entire cause list for the day.”

The statement said that Justice Sanjeev Kumar directed the central project coordinator of the HC to ensure seamless service of e-filing, display of timely case information, real-time display of cause list for information to all the litigants to prevent any deprivation to such facilities.

The statement said that “by making proper use of the same, lawyers can e-file their cases anywhere in the country, e-file replies, check status of their cases, cause list of any court and keep the people of Gurez connected with all the courts across India.”