Over 3000 court cases pending against SED, 9 cases reach SC

Srinagar, Jul 13: The School Education Department (SED) J&K is grappling with the staggering number of legal cases as 3154 court cases are pending in various courts including five in the Supreme Court of India.

As per the official figures, these cases include 2285 from Jammu division and 869 cases are registered against the SED in Kashmir division. An official said most of the cases pending with different Courts pertain to appointment under erstwhile SSA and other cases including  promotions and other category cases.

As per the official figures, out of the total 3154 cases, SED has filed replies in 2565 cases- 1840 in Jammu and 725 in Kashmir division. The department is yet to file replies in 589 cases including 445 from Jammu and 144 cases from Kashmir division. The official figures regarding the pendency of court cases were presented by the department during a review meeting chaired by the education minister Sakina Itoo last month.The delay in filing responses in court cases has raised the concerns over the preparedness of the department, particularly the legal section of the department, in handling legal cases

The official figure reveals that nine cases-five from Jammu and four from Kashmir are pending with the Supreme Court of India. The department has filed its response in all the cases but the Court is yet to  make final orders in these cases. The School Education Department  has two contempt petitions from the Kashmir division pending before the Supreme Court and the department has not filed any response to them in Court.

The High Court cases have also piled up in the department as a significant number of cases are pending against the department.

As many as 1095 writ petitions from Jammu division are pending in High Court while the department has filed its response in 945 cases while the reply 150 is yet to be submitted in 150 cases. In Kashmir division, 214 HC writ petitions are pending against the department for which reply has been submitted in 186 cases while no response has been filed by the department in 28 cases till date.

As per the official figures, 46 Letters Patent Appeals (LPAs)-25 from Jammu and 21 from Kashmir are pending against the department. In this regard the department has submitted its response in all the cases. However, the department has 369 contempt petitions pending before the High Court including 300 cases pertaining to Jammu division and 69 from Kashmir division. The department has filed its reply to 280 cases in Jammu division and 59 cases pertaining to Kashmir division respectively. As per the official statistics, as many as 902 cases are pending with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), filed against the education department. 588 cases have been filed in Jammu while and 314 cases in Kashmir division. As per the official details, the department has submitted its response to 435 cases in Jammu and 252 cases in Kashmir division. Also, 181 contempt cases filed against the department are pending before CAT. These include 159 cases from Jammu and 22 in Kashmir division. Till date the department has filed responses in CAT for 84 cases in Jammu and 17 in Kashmir. As per the official figures, 334 cases are pending in different subordinate courts- 112 in Jammu and 222 in Kashmir. The department has filed replies in 65 cases in Jammu and 185 cases in Kashmir.