SC for early hearing of PIL seeking Governor's rule in J&K

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked its Registry to consider listing a pending plea filed by Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) leader Bhim Singh seeking imposition of Governor's rule in the troubled state, for early hearing.

"The Supreme Court Registry may give an early date of hearing," a bench comprising Justices A R Dave and L Nageswara Rao said when senior advocate and JKNPP leader mentioned the matter seeking its hearing.

"The petition has now been listed for hearing in December. Whole of Kashmir is on fire. I am seeking early hearing," Singh said.

The apex court, on August 26, had said that Singh may visit Srinagar to assess the "ground reality" there.

The court had said that Singh cannot just say that Governor's rule under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir was the only panacea for everything and should file a reply to the Centre's affidavit on the ground situation in the state.

The bench had also directed solicitor general Ranjit Kumar to arrange for the visit of the activist lawyer and allow him to meet local people, divisional commissioner and deputy commissioner, so that he can assess the situation by himself and submit a report.

Earlier, the apex court had said that the ongoing trouble in Kashmir should be "dealt with politically" as everything cannot be managed within judicial parameters.

The Centre, in its status report filed on August 5, had said the law and order situation in the Valley had improved considerably with incidents of violent protests having gone down from 201 on July 9 to 11 on August 3.

Bhim Singh's petition had said that due to the use of pellet guns by the security forces, people were being blinded and there was a shortage of medicines and medical facilities available to the citizens.

His plea had said that Governor's rule under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir should be imposed and had sought a direction to the Governor to dissolve the Assembly, claiming it "has failed to discharge its duties and functions".