State Marriage Assistance Scheme for poor girls: HC closes PIL against 8th pass prerequisite after Govt assures action
Srinagar, Jul 16: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has closed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that had sought its intervention to call a halt to the 8th pass precondition for poor girls to avail the benefits under State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS).
In the PIL filed earlier this year by a law student, Abdul Hamid Rather, it was contended that the stipulation was unfair to poor and underprivileged girls. A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal closed the PIL after the government through its senior additional Advocate General, A R Malik assured the court for an action in the matter.
“The matter shall be examined in the right earnest and appropriate orders in this regard shall be passed within a period of two months,” he said.
In response to this submission, the bench closed the PIL that had sought to quash Clause 3(b) of Annexure ‘A’ to Government order No.49-JK(SWD) of 2022 dated March 22, 2022, issued by the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, as regards imposition of the eligibility requirement of passing at least 8th standard for poor girls to avail the benefit under SMAS. As the matter came up for hearing, the petitioner submitted that prior to filing of the PIL; he had submitted numerous representations to the government flagging his concerns and grievances, but to no avail.
The Senior AAG submitted that the competent authority was already cognisant of the representation submitted by the petitioner. He said it would be expedient if the PIL was disposed of at this stage to enable the authorities to examine and deal with the concerns and grievances of the petitioner and take necessary measures in accordance with law.
Following this, the petitioner submitted that the PIL be disposed of in terms of the statement made by the senior AAG. However, he urged that authorities be directed to take a decision in this regard within a specified time. Subsequently, the senior AAG submitted that the matter shall be examined by the authorities and appropriate orders shall be passed within two months. In the wake of this, the court disposed of the PIL in terms of the statements made by the counsel for the parties.
