A Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh (through Virtual Mode) comprising the Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal has granted 6 weeks further time to Amicus Curiae Advocate S.S. Ahmed to visit the Mughal Road with a view to submit a report with regard to the implementation process undertaken by the NHIDCL & Government of J&K on the recommendations/report of the Expert Committee constituted by the Division Bench vide its order dated 07.12.2023 which had visited the vulnerable sites on National Highway-244, the road connecting Batote to Kishtwar via Doda under NHIDCL (National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited).
When the much publicised three Public Interest Litigations (PILs) titled Intakhab Ahmed Qazi V/s State of J&K & Ors (PIL No.30/2019), District Bar Association, Doda V/s UOI & Ors. (PIL No.01/2018) & Court on its Own Motion V/s UT of J&K & Ors. (PIL No.13/2022) came up for hearing, the Amicus Curiae Advocate S.S. Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan and M. Zulkarnain Chowdhary appearing for the petitioners submitted that pursuant to Division Bench order dated 22.04.2025, the Amicus Curiae along with two petitioners i.e. Advocate Syed Asim Hashmi (the then President Bar Association, Doda) & Asif Iqbal Bhat (Social Activist) undertook the visit of vulnerable spots on the National Highway-244 in particular to carry out spot inspection of the sites along the National Highway i.e. Batote, Doda, Kishtwar.
The Amicus Curiae Advocate S.S.Ahmed further submitted that necessary exercise has substantially been carried out and a detailed report dated 20.08.2025 in this regard has since been submitted. Advocate S.S.Ahmed further submitted that owing to inclement weather, the Amicus could not visit the Mughal Road and, therefore, some more time would be required to complete the exercise.
After considering the submissions of Amicus Curiae Advocate S.S. Ahmed, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal granted 06 weeks further time to Amicus Curiae to visit the Mughal Road with a view to submit a report with regard to the implementation process undertaken by the NHIDCL & Government of J&K on the recommendations/report of the Expert Committee which had submitted its detailed report on 16.03.2024 through Divisional Commissioner, Jammu recommending steps/measures for minimising road accidents on NH-244 and Mughal Road. DSGI Vishal Sharma with CGSC Eishan Dadhchi appeared for NHIDCL whereas Government Advocate Sunil Malhotra appeared for J&K Government.
The Division Bench looking into the Public Interest involved in the matter directed the Registry to re-notify the these PILs on 24.12.2025.