Srinagar, May 16 :
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has upheld the legality of the adaptation of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978 following the 2019 reorganisation of the erstwhile State into a Union Territory.
The ruling came from Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal while dismissing a habeas corpus plea filed against a detention order issued by the District Magistrate Baramulla under the PSA against an alleged Over Ground Worker associated with the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The petitioner had challenged the validity of replacing the expression “security of the State” with “security of the Union Territory” in the PSA, arguing that such a modification required fresh legislation by Parliament after the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the High Court rejected the contention and observed that Sections 95 and 96 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 clearly empower continuation and adaptation of existing laws applicable to the former State.
The Court said the amendments carried out in the PSA were only consequential changes and did not affect the core nature, scope, or purpose of the legislation.
The bench further held that the Central Government had lawfully exercised its authority under Section 96 of the Reorganisation Act while issuing the adaptation order in March 2020, under which references to “State” were substituted with “Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir”.
The Court also dismissed objections raised regarding procedural approval of the detention order, stating that the Government had granted approval within the stipulated legal timeframe and no procedural irregularity was established before the Court.
Justice Nargal additionally observed that resemblance between the police dossier and grounds of detention by itself does not prove non-application of mind by the detaining authority, noting that police inputs are naturally relied upon while preparing detention grounds.
With these observations, the High Court dismissed the petition along with all connected applications.