Supreme Court rejects plea seeking age relaxation in Central government jobs for displaced Kashmiri Pandits

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Panun Kashmir Trust, a non-governmental organization (NGO), seeking age relaxation benefits for displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Group C and D Central government jobs [Panun Kashmir Trust v. Union of India & Ors.].

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta observed that such matters fall within the policy domain of the government and the Court cannot interfere into the domain of the executive.

"These are all policy decisions to be taken by the government," the Bench orally remarked.

Hence, it proceeded to dismiss the plea.

"We are not inclined to entertain the present petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The writ petition is dismissed accordingly," the order said.

The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that Kashmiri Hindus, who left their homes amid violence in the Valley, should not be treated differently from the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots or those affected by the 2002 Gujarat violence, both of whom were granted certain relaxations in the recruitment process for Group C and Group D posts under the Central government.

"This is a petition by victims of Kashmir riots seeking some parity along with victims of anti-Sikh riots and....If they (victims of anti-Sikh and Gujarat riots) were given some relaxation(why not us)," he submitted.

The Court, however, was not inclined to issue any directions.

Accordingly, finding no ground to interfere, the Bench dismissed the petition.

Advocates Sudarshan Rajan, Nischay Chaudhary, Srishti Sharma, Mahesh Kumar, Ramesh Rawat, Hitain Bajaj, Sambhav Sharma, Ria Setiya and Ashutosh Gupta appeared for Panun Kashmir Trust.

In September 2022, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain a plea seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in Kashmir in 1990, which had led to their exodus from the valley.

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