JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court last week issued a notice to the State Chief Secretary and the Director of the State archives to file a written reply before September 28, to a writ petition seeking production of the original document of the “instrument of accession of Jammu and Kashmir State” before the court.
Justice Bilal Ahmed Nazki of the J&K High Court also issued a notice that the reply be filed by the State Government in an interim application of the petitioners seeking that appropriate orders be passed by appointing ‘commissioner or receiver of the sitting judge of the High Court or retired Judge of the court to immediately take ‘over the charge of the archives and verify the truth and trace out the ordinal document.
The petitioners, A.K. Sawhney, advocate and former president of Jammu Bar Association, Saroop Singh, advocate and Iqbal Hussain Bhat, advocate in a public interest litigation prayed that the document instrument of accession,” which was executed on October 27, 1947 between Maharaja Hari Singh of J&K State and Governor General of India, be produced by the Government for satisfaction of the general public.
The petitioners said the orders or direction may be passed 10 preserve all such documents which are historical in ‘nature and have a constitutional importance in the interest of national integration and sovereignty of India over the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Arguing the case, Sawhney said a large section of the press recently highlighted about the loss of the document instrument of accession creating a sensation among the public and shocking “each one of us.”
But the Government has not contradicted till date this news item and the petitioners approached the High Court to see appropriate relief that the respondents be directed to satisfy the court and the petitioners that “the document is properly preserved by the State Government.”
Article extracted from this publication >> September 22, 1995
