{"id":94584,"date":"2009-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-03T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009"},"modified":"2019-03-18T06:37:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T01:07:21","slug":"n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009","title":{"rendered":"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Jammu High Court<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009<\/div>\n<pre>       \n\n  \n\n  \n\n \n\n \n \n HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT JAMMU.            \nLPASW No. D-35 OF 2008    \n1 N. K. Mehta &amp; ors.\n 2 Kamlesh Prabhakar  \nPetitioners\n1 State of J&amp;K &amp; ors.\n 2 State of J&amp;K &amp; ors.\nRespondent  \n!Mr. M. K. Bhardwaj, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Ajay Abrol, Advocate in LPA D-35\/2008. Ms. Mandeep Reen in LPASW 31\/2008    \n^Mr. Firdous Ahmad Mir, Adv. in D-35\/08 Mr. M. K. Bhardwaj, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Ajay Abrol, Advocate in LPASW 31\/2008. \n\nHon'ble Mr. Justice Barin Ghosh, Chief Justice\nHon'ble Mr. Justice J. P. Singh, Judge\nDate: 04.04.2009 \n:J U D G M E N T :\n<\/pre>\n<p>Per Barin Ghosh, CJ:\n<\/p>\n<p>In the writ petition, which has been dismissed by the<br \/>\njudgment and           order under appeal, the appellants<br \/>\ncontended that they are entitled to serve their employer,<br \/>\nnamely,       the     State    Cooperative     Agriculture      Rural<br \/>\nDevelopment Bank Limited until the age of 60 years and<br \/>\nnot until the age of 58 years, as was being contended by<br \/>\ntheir employer. The judgment under appeal has been<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                             2<\/span><br \/>\nrendered, principally, upon relying on a Division Bench<br \/>\nJudgment of this Court, which was rendered on April 30,<br \/>\n1999 in the case of Ved Pal Sharma v Citizens Co-<br \/>\noperative Bank Ltd., reported in 2000 SLJ 117. The said<br \/>\nDivision Bench judgment followed the judgment earlier<br \/>\nrendered by a Single Bench of this Court in CSA<br \/>\nNo.35\/1994,reported as Kuldip Raj v Citizen Co-<br \/>\noperative Bank Ltd., in 1988 KLJ 83. The law which<br \/>\nstood changed after April 30, 1999 was, therefore, not<br \/>\nnoticed in the said Division Bench and Single Bench<br \/>\njudgments.\n<\/p>\n<p>      There appears to be no dispute that the employer<br \/>\nsociety was governed by the J&amp;K Cooperative Societies<br \/>\nAct, 1960. There appears to be also no dispute that the<br \/>\nemployer society on July 3, 1971 made service rules in<br \/>\nrelation to its employees. The learned Judge, while<br \/>\nrendering    the  judgment    and   order  under    appeal,<br \/>\nproceeded on the basis that the said service rules have<br \/>\nnot been registered with the Registrar of Co-operative<br \/>\nSocieties whereas the service rules upon which reliance<br \/>\nhas been placed clearly show that the same stand<br \/>\nregistered with the Registrar, Cooperative Societies. That<br \/>\nthe said rules were registered with the Registrar,<br \/>\nCooperative Societies too was not disputed by the parties.<br \/>\nThere is no dispute that Rule 25 of the said rules makes it<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                              3<\/span><br \/>\nclear that the employees of the employer society shall<br \/>\nretire at 60 years of age.\n<\/p>\n<p>      Section 124 of the J&amp;K Cooperative Societies Act,<br \/>\n1960 authorized the Government to make rules, including<br \/>\nthose pertaining to laying down service conditions of<br \/>\nemployees of Co-operative Societies. There is no dispute<br \/>\nthat on July 8, 1988, in exercise of powers conferred by<br \/>\nsection 124 of the J&amp;K Co-operative Societies Act, 1960,<br \/>\nwhich applied to all societies, the Government made the<br \/>\nrules called the J&amp;K Co-operative Societies Services<br \/>\nRules, 1988; while, however, doing so, in clause (o) of<br \/>\nsection 2 thereof provided that b\ufffdsocietyb\ufffd(tm) means Co-<br \/>\noperative District Wholesale-store Society \/ Co-operative<br \/>\nSale and Supply Society \/ Co-operative Multipurpose<br \/>\nSocieties \/ Co-operative Service Society registered under<br \/>\nthe Jammu and Kashmir Co-operative Societies Act,<br \/>\n1960, but did not include Co-operative Development<br \/>\nBanks registered as co-operative societies under the said<br \/>\nAct. However, in the note appended to Rule 24 of the said<br \/>\nrules, which contained directions pertaining to service<br \/>\nrecords, it was stated that the term b\ufffdother societiesb\ufffd(tm) means<br \/>\nCo-operative Societies, Co-operative Industrial Societies,<br \/>\nCo-operative Banks and the like. The term b\ufffdother<br \/>\nsocietiesb\ufffd(tm) however, did not feature in Rule 24 of the said<br \/>\nrules. The Division Bench referred to above, taking note of<br \/>\nthe said note as also applicability of the said rules to all<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                              4<\/span><br \/>\nsocieties, held that the said rules were also applicable in<br \/>\nrelation to Co-operative Development Banks registered<br \/>\nunder the said Act. Rule 13 of the said rules specifically<br \/>\nmentions that the persons appointed to the service shall<br \/>\nretire on attaining the age of 58 years or on the date the<br \/>\nsociety in which he was initially appointed ceases to<br \/>\nfunction. The object of the said rules was to make a cadre<br \/>\nof the employees of all Co-operative Societies and to<br \/>\nmake them interchangeable by transfer and deputation.<br \/>\nThere is no dispute that the said object was not fulfilled<br \/>\nand no attempt was made to fulfill the said object.\n<\/p>\n<p>      At the same time, there cannot be any dispute that<br \/>\nthe rules made by the employer society in 1971, to the<br \/>\nextent the same determined the age of superannuation,<br \/>\nstood altered by the rules of 1988 made by the State.<br \/>\nThus, on and from July 8, 1988, the employees of the<br \/>\nemployer society became obliged to superannuate or<br \/>\nretire upon attaining the age of 58 years.\n<\/p>\n<p>      On July 8, 1989, the J&amp;K Co-operative Societies Act,<br \/>\n1989 (hereinafter referred to as b\ufffdthe said Actb\ufffd(tm)) came into<br \/>\nforce, and by virtue of section 172(1) of the said Act, the<br \/>\nemployer society, which was existing as on July 8, 1989,<br \/>\nand which had been registered under the Co-operative<br \/>\nSocieties Act, 1960, became deemed to be registered<br \/>\nunder the said Act and its bye-laws, so far as the same<br \/>\nare not inconsistent with the express provisions of the<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                                5<\/span><br \/>\nsaid Act, continued to remain in force until altered or<br \/>\nrescinded. At this juncture, it is necessary to take note of<br \/>\nsub-section (2) of section 172 of the said Act which is as<br \/>\nfollows:\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>            All appointments, rules and orders made,<br \/>\n      notifications and notices issued and suits and<br \/>\n      other proceedings instituted under the said Act<br \/>\n      (1960 Act) shall, so far as may be, be deemed to<br \/>\n      have been respectively made, issued and<br \/>\n      instituted under this Act.b\ufffd<br \/>\n      Section 177 of the said Act repealed the 1960 Act<br \/>\nbut, at the same time, provided that any rule made under<br \/>\nthe provisions of the repealed Act, shall, in so far as the<br \/>\nsame are not inconsistent with the provisions of the<br \/>\nrepealing Act be deemed to have been done, taken,<br \/>\nissued and made under the corresponding provisions of<br \/>\nthe repealing Act.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>      Section    176   of   the   said Act  authorizes   the<br \/>\nGovernment to make rules to carry out the purposes of<br \/>\nthe Act, including conditions of service of officers and<br \/>\nother employees of Co-operative Societies.\n<\/p>\n<p>      In exercise of such power granted by section 176 of<br \/>\nthe said Act, the Government made the J&amp;K Co-operative<br \/>\nSocieties Rules, 2001 (hereinafter referred to as b\ufffdthe said<br \/>\nrulesb\ufffd(tm)). While making the said rules, the Government<br \/>\nprovided in sub-rule (1) of rule 5 of the said rules the<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                             6<\/span><br \/>\nsubject-matters which are required to provide for in the<br \/>\nbye-laws of the Co-operative Societies; and in sub-rule (2)<br \/>\nof Rule 5 provided that in the bye-laws they may provide<br \/>\nfor the matters enumerated from clauses (e) to (f)<br \/>\nthereunder. Clause (e) of sub-rule (2) of Rule 5 provided<br \/>\nthe method of recruitment, the conditions of service and<br \/>\nthe authority competent to fix, revise or regulate the<br \/>\nscales of pay and allowances of paid officers and<br \/>\nemployees of the societies and the procedure to be<br \/>\nfollowed in the disposal of disciplinary cases against<br \/>\nthem. The said rules did not provide for the service<br \/>\nconditions of the employees of Co-operative Societies,<br \/>\ninstead granted liberty to them to provide for the same.<br \/>\nThere cannot be any dispute that by reason of<br \/>\ncontinuation of the rules made under the 1960 Act by<br \/>\nsection 177 of the said Act, the 1988 rules made by the<br \/>\nGovernment continued to remain in force until such time<br \/>\nthe said rules of 2001 came into effect.\n<\/p>\n<p>      The short question is whether by reason of coming<br \/>\ninto force of the 2001 rules, the 1988 rules became<br \/>\ninconsistent with the provisions of the Act, inasmuch as<br \/>\nthe said rules in no uncertain terms authorized the<br \/>\nSocieties to make bye-laws pertaining to conditions of<br \/>\nservice of their employees and whether the rules<br \/>\ngoverning the conditions of service framed by the<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                              7<\/span><br \/>\nrespondent-employer      in   1971   automatically    stand<br \/>\nrevived?\n<\/p>\n<p>      Rule 26 of the 1988 rules repealed all the then<br \/>\nexiting rules, except the Common Cadre Rules of 1976.<br \/>\nWhen the Government under section 124 of the J&amp;K Co-<br \/>\noperative Societies Act 1971 had power to frame rules to<br \/>\nlay down conditions of service of the employees of Co-<br \/>\noperative Societies, it goes without saying that, such<br \/>\npower included the power to repeal all rules, though not<br \/>\nmade by the Government, but laid down conditions of<br \/>\nservice of employees of Co-operative Societies, including<br \/>\nthe 1971 Rules made by the respondent-employer.\n<\/p>\n<p>      In the circumstances, the 1971 Rules made by the<br \/>\nrespondent-employer having been repealed by the 1988<br \/>\nrules, by reason of the said rules, which authorized Co-<br \/>\noperative Societies to provide in their bye-laws the<br \/>\nconditions of service of their employees, the 1971 Rules<br \/>\nmade by the respondent Co-operative Society, there<br \/>\ncannot be any dispute, did not revive since the said rules<br \/>\nindicated no intention to revive the same or similar rules.<br \/>\nFurther, the Co-operative Societies by the said rules have<br \/>\nbeen authorized to provide for in their bye-laws conditions<br \/>\nof service of their employees and their appears to be no<br \/>\ndispute that as yet no such step has been taken by the<br \/>\nemployer society to provide for the same in their bye-laws<br \/>\nand, at the same time, the 1971 rules, it is nobodyb\ufffd(tm)s case,<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                              8<\/span><br \/>\nwere part of the bye-laws of the employer society, though<br \/>\nthe same was registered with the Registrar, Co-operative<br \/>\nSocieties.\n<\/p>\n<p>      The conclusion, therefore, would be that the 1988<br \/>\nrules, framed by the Government, governing the service<br \/>\nconditions of the employees of the Co-operative Societies,<br \/>\nincluding those of the employer society, still are in force<br \/>\nand, as such, there is no scope of interference with the<br \/>\njudgment and order under appeal. This conclusion is<br \/>\nbased on section 24 of the General Clauses Act, 1977<br \/>\n(1920 AD).\n<\/p>\n<p>      However,     before   we   conclude,    it  would     be<br \/>\nappropriate on our part to state that the questions raised<br \/>\nin the writ petition were, in fact, not covered by the<br \/>\njudgments referred to above and the same were required<br \/>\nto be answered independently. We may further point out<br \/>\nthat the said rules have made a great departure from what<br \/>\nhad been provided in the 1988 rules having granted<br \/>\npower to the Co-operative Societies to frame rules<br \/>\npertaining to service conditions of their employees as part<br \/>\nof their bye-laws. The 1988 rules would become<br \/>\ninconsistent with the rules governing service conditions as<br \/>\nand when framed by Co-operative Societies in their bye-<br \/>\nlaws, liberty for which has been granted by the said rules.<br \/>\nAt   the   same     time,  there  being    no    authoritative<br \/>\npronouncement that the rules governing the service<br \/>\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">                               9<\/span><br \/>\nconditions made by the societies prior to coming into force<br \/>\nof the 1988 rules were repealed by the 1988 rules, the<br \/>\npetitioners did have reason to come to this Court to seek<br \/>\ncontinuation of their service until 60 years and, in the<br \/>\ncircumstances, though we dismiss the appeal, but make it<br \/>\nclear that the petitioners having rendered service despite<br \/>\nhaving crossed the age of 58 years on the strength of the<br \/>\norders of this Court, should not be made to repay any part<br \/>\nof their salaries drawn in course thereof.\n<\/p>\n<p>       Because we have stated above that substantial<br \/>\nquestions of law had been raised in the writ petition, we<br \/>\naward no cost against the appellants and, accordingly,<br \/>\nmake it absolutely clear that on account of the present<br \/>\nlitigation, which includes the writ petition, the petitioners-<br \/>\nappellants will not be saddled with any litigation cost of<br \/>\nany nature. We are disturbed to note that by an order<br \/>\ndated July 11, 2008, an attempt had been made to<br \/>\nrecover litigation costs alleged to have been incurred by<br \/>\nthe employer society to defend the present litigation. It is<br \/>\nmade clear that no such litigation cost shall be recovered<br \/>\nfrom the appellants.\n<\/p>\n<p>       The appeals are, accordingly, dismissed.\n<\/p>\n<pre>                    (J. P. Singh)          (Barin Ghosh)\n                       Judge               Chief Justice.\nJammu,  \n04 .04.2009\nA. H. Khan, JR.\n<span class=\"hidden_text\">10<\/span>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jammu High Court N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT JAMMU. LPASW No. D-35 OF 2008 1 N. K. Mehta &amp; ors. 2 Kamlesh Prabhakar Petitioners 1 State of J&amp;K &amp; ors. 2 State of J&amp;K &amp; ors. Respondent !Mr. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-court","category-jammu-high-court"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-03T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-18T01:07:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@legaliadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Legal_india\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\"},\"headline\":\"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-03T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-18T01:07:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\"},\"wordCount\":1822,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"High Court\",\"Jammu High Court\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\",\"name\":\"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-03T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-18T01:07:21+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\",\"name\":\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"description\":\"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"alternateName\":\"Legal India\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/LegalindiaCom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/Legal_india\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\",\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Legal India Admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/legaliadmin\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/author\\\/legal-india-admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","og_url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009","og_site_name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","article_published_time":"2009-04-03T18:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-18T01:07:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Legal India Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@legaliadmin","twitter_site":"@Legal_india","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Legal India Admin","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009"},"author":{"name":"Legal India Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea"},"headline":"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009","datePublished":"2009-04-03T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-18T01:07:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009"},"wordCount":1822,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"articleSection":["High Court","Jammu High Court"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009","name":"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-04-03T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-18T01:07:21+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/n-k-mehta-ors-vs-state-of-jk-ors-on-4-april-2009#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"N. K. Mehta &amp; Ors vs State Of J&amp;K &amp; Ors on 4 April, 2009"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","description":"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization","name":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","alternateName":"Legal India","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Legal_india"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea","name":"Legal India Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Legal India Admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com","https:\/\/x.com\/legaliadmin"],"url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/author\/legal-india-admin"}]}},"modified_by":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}