SC Rejects Plea Seeking Earmarking of PoK, Gilgit As Lok Sabha Seats

New Delhi: A public interest litigation (PIL) by a former RAW official seeking a direction to the government to denote Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit as constituencies of the Lok Sabha, was dismissed by the Supreme Court which imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him. A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said the petition filed by Ram Kumar Yadav was legally untenable. “You come to the judiciary with such a prayer? There cannot be any judicial interference here. We cannot pass such orders,” the bench said.

The petitioner said that as many as 24 constituencies in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly have been earmarked for PoK and Gilgit, territories under the occupation of Pakistan. The petitioner requested the court that on the lines of the Assembly seats, the central government be directed to earmark two seats in the Lok Sabha — Muzaffarabad (capital of PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, parts of Northern Areas, which are directly controlled by the government in Islamabad.

The 111-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has always functioned with 87 legislators. The petitioner said he had made a representation in this regard to the government but since no decision was taken by the government till date on his plea, he approached the top court. “That since, both (so-called) ‘Azad Kashmir’ and Gilgit-Baltistan were part of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir territory, India should bring these regions under its Constitutional obligation like the Jammu & Kashmir Constitution, administrating it incognito with 24 MLAs,” he said. “The distribution of powers between the Union and the State of Jammu & Kashmir reflects that matters of national importance, in which a uniform policy is desirable, is retained with the Union of India, and matters of local concern remain with the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” said the plea. (IANS)

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