The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on September 14 a petition seeking a judicial direction to the government to stop funding the security and other expenses of separatists in J&K.
A Bench of Justices Anil R. Dave and L. Nageswara Rao agreed to hear advocate M.L. Sharma, who sought that the government should stay all such funding.
The petition asked why the government should spend money from the Consolidated Fund of India “for supporting separatist groups working against the country.”
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In the morning, when Mr. Sharma mentioned his plea for an urgent hearing, the Bench asked him to get his petition numbered with the Supreme Court registry and return to the courtroom at 2 p.m.
“We also share the same feelings ... Everybody sitting here feels the same,” Justice Dave remarked orally in court.
The petition charged the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government with illegally providing houses, facilities and ‘Z’ class security to “persons/group of persons who are separatists and are involved in promoting terrorism and violence in the State of Kashmir since several years.”
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“They are arranging stone-pelting programme against the Indian Army, violence in the State and providing safe passage to terrorists ... they are getting money even from Pakistan and other foreign country (ies),” the petition alleged.
“The matter should be heard ... an amount of more than Rs. 100 crore is spent on their [separatists] lodging and security,” Mr. Sharma submitted.