826 cases pending against JKPSC in high court, reveals RTI
The number of cases has risen from 500 to 826 in a span of three years which means that every third day a new court case is filed by the aggrieved party against the recruitment panel, said RTI activist Raman Sharma.
The Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC) has as many as 830 cases pending against it in the J&K high court and Supreme Court, an RTI reply has revealed.
“The UT’s apex body for recruitment of gazetted posts, including that of subordinate judicial officers, is facing 830 cases in the high court and Supreme Court,” said RTI activist Raman Sharma.
The reply provided by JKPSC to Sharma in response to his RTI application stated that as of date there were 826 cases pending against it in the high court and that it was also party in another four cases in the Supreme Court.
The recruitment body has also informed in its reply that it has filed two cases in the Supreme Court and eight appeals before the J&K high court.
Spent Rs 70 lakh as legal fee in past 5 years
With regard to the legal expenses borne by the JKPSC in defending and pursuing these cases in the Supreme Court and high court, the RTI reply states that during the financial year 2018-19 and 2019-20, it paid Rs 35,14,367 as lawyers’ fees including over Rs 22,00,000 as retainership fee.
“The amount paid by the recruitment body in defending these court cases in 2018 and 2019 exceeded its own legal budget by Rs 5 lakh. The RTI reply shows zero legal expenses borne by the recruitment body during the 2020-21 though Rs 9 lakh has been kept as legal budget,” said Sharma.
The total legal expenses borne by the commission in the last five financial years were approximately Rs 70,00,000 and every fiscal they exceeded the allocated budget to meet the legal fees.
In October 2017, the JKPSC in another RTI reply to activist Sharma had informed that there were 500 cases pending against it in the J&K high court. “The number of cases has risen from 500 to 826 in a span of three years which means that every third day a new court case is filed by the aggrieved party against the recruitment panel,” he added.