HC grants six weeks to amicus curiae to inspect Mughal Road

A Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has granted six weeks’ time to amicus curiae advocate SS Ahmed to visit the Mughal Road to inspect the implementation process for recommendations regarding safety of the road for commuters.

The Bench comprised Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal. The six weeks were granted with a view to submit a report with regard to the implementation process undertaken by the National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and Government of J&K on the recommendations/ report of the expert committee constituted by the Division Bench on December 7, 2023. The committee had visited the vulnerable sites on National Highway-244, the road connecting Batote to Kishtwar via Doda under NHIDCL.

When the three public interest litigations (PILs) in this regard came up for hearing, the amicus curiae with advocates Supriya Chouhan and M Zulkarnain Chowdhary appearing for the petitioners submitted that pursuant to the Division Bench order dated April 22, the amicus curiae along with two petitioners — Syed Asim Hashmi (the then president, Bar Association, Doda) and Asif Iqbal Bhat (social activist) undertook the visit of the vulnerable spots on National Highway-244 in particular to carry out spot inspection of the sites along the NH i.e. Batote, Doda, Kishtwar.

Ahmed further submitted that necessary exercise has substantially been carried out and a detailed report dated August 20 in this regard has since been submitted. He further submitted that due to inclement weather, the amicus could not visit Mughal Road and, therefore, some more time would be required to complete the exercise.

Mughal Road connects Rajouri and Poonch district of Jammu region with Kashmir and is used by thousands of commuters as it is an alternative road to Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.