“Now not All Hindus Dwelling In Valley Are Kashmiri Pandits”: Prime Courtroom

Srinagar:

Each Hindu residing within the Kashmir Valley isn’t a Kashmiri Pandit and can not get some great benefits of particular activity schemes supposed for individuals of that particular group, the Jammu and Kashmir Prime Courtroom has stated in a up to date judgment.

Disregarding a plea looking for to incorporate some Hindu teams and Sikhs into the High Minister’s activity bundle for Kashmiri Pandits, the courtroom stated the centered crew is a “one by one identifiable group distinct from different Hindus living within the Valley like Rajputs, Brahmins rather than Kashmiri Pandits, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and lots of others,” stated Justice Sanjeev Kumar in his judgment on Tuesday.

The petitioners had argued that different Hindu teams, but even so the Sikh group, too, had suffered a lot and needs to be regarded as for advantages very similar to those prolonged to non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits.

The courtroom, alternatively, stated the argument that they may be able to be grouped in combination as Kashmiri Pandits was once “preposterous and can’t be approved”.

“There is not any denying the truth that in commonplace parlance, Kashmiri Pandit is a group of Kashmiri-speaking Brahmins residing within the Valley for generations and are distinctly recognized via their get dressed, customs, and traditions,” the pass judgement on stated.

“It’s, thus, tricky to simply accept the competition of the discovered suggest for the petitioners who’re most commonly Kshatriyas, Rajputs, Scheduled Caste, non-Kashmiri Brahmins (that they) must be handled as Kashmiri Pandits and admitted to some great benefits of the High Minister’s revised bundle for go back and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants.”

The one query that is still made up our minds is whether or not the petitioners, who’re, admittedly, now not Kashmiri Pandits however belong to different Hindu castes, will also be introduced inside the definition of ‘Kashmiri Pandits’, in line with the judgment.

In 2009, the then High Minister, Manmohan Singh, had rolled out a High Minister’s “bundle” geared toward facilitating the go back and rehabilitation in Kashmir Valley of Kashmiri migrants.

Underneath the scheme, 6,000 executive jobs had been introduced for migrants Pandits. Whilst 4,000 posts have already been stuffed, 2,000 had been not too long ago marketed via the Jammu and Kashmir Provider Variety Board.

Underneath a revised bundle introduced remaining 12 months, the federal government reserved the roles for Pandits who’ve now not migrated from Kashmir. Such applicants are required to provide certificate of “non-migration” issued via the involved Deputy Commissioners.

The Deputy Commissioners, alternatively, refused to factor such certificate to non-Kashmiri Pandit Hindus.

The aggrieved teams then filed a petition earlier than the Prime Courtroom looking for inclusion within the bundle pronouncing it can’t be limited to just one set of beneficiaries.

The petitioners stated the time period “Kashmiri Pandits”, utilized in SRO 425 of 2017, was once large sufficient to incorporate all non-migrant communities and Hindu castes living within the Kashmir Valley and feature “similarly suffered as non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits”.