For 4 weeks, J&K High Court functioned from 5-bedroom house

CHANDIGARH: On September 9, at a time when people in flood-hit Srinagar were scrambling for shelter and food, the chief minister and governor of J&K received a letter. The handwritten letter sought allocation of an alternative building for functioning of the J&K High Court's Srinagar wing till the original building, which was completely submerged in water, could be restored.

The authorities did not respond, but the author — Chief Justice of J&K High Court MM Kumar — did, not by slapping a contempt of court notice on the authorities, but by carrying out the search on his own.

And on September 18, he made a house of five bedrooms at Gupkar Road the new address of HC, with the support of other four judges of the court. They religiously held HC in the drawing room of the house and a tent for nearly four weeks until they shifted back to the original premises on October 13 after CJI HL Dattu took up the matter with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Two days after he was sworn in as CJI, Justice Dattu received a letter from Justice Kumar, apprising him of the makeshift arrangement. The same evening Justice Dattu rang up Justice Kumar and offered him support. Three days later, on October 5, CJI landed in Srinagar and the first place he visited was M-5, Gupkar Road. Justice Dattu then called upon a meeting of all the high and lower court judges to assure speedy restoration of the court premises, and urged the CM to ensure HC premises were repaired at the earliest.

For four weeks, not only the house on Gupkar Road served as the temporary HC but it was also the temporary residence of the chief justice. Justice Kumar was evacuated from his official residence at around 2 am on September 7 as the area got submerged in water. For four days he was put up at Hari Niwas, an official guest house.

He was advised to move to Jammu where he stayed for two days only to return to Srinagar after sending his family to Chandigarh. The house that housed HC for almost a month belongs to a retired Judge. While estate office helped in putting up a shamiana, the Bar Association of J&K HC pitched in by arranging 25 chairs.

The house had only one toilet to spare for litigants and lawyers. Daal chawal is what the cook invariably cooked for the five HC judges who used to assemble during the lunch break. Arrangements were also made for functioning of district courts. As per available information, nearly 200 cases were entertained and decided on during this period.