02, Jan 2016

Jan 02, 2016 – YUSUF JAMEEL | Srinagar
A larger bench of the Jammu and Kashmir high court on Friday stayed an earlier order of a single-judge bench allowing the state government to use both the tricolour as well as the state flag on official buildings and vehicles.
On December 26, Justice Hasnain Massodi had directed the state government to hoist the state flag, along with the national flag. The judgment had — while restoring the state government’s circular issued in March last year that enjoined all constitutional authorities to hoist state flags on buildings housing their offices and their official vehicles — said, “It connects past with the present and the future. The flag, while reminding us of the struggle made by the people and their sacrifices, also makes us aware of our aspirations.” [The March 12, 2015 circular was withdrawn by the state general administration department the next day, however].
The J&K government on Friday asserted that hoisting of the state flag alongside the national flag is provided in the Constitut-ion of the state and, therefore, no one should try to make an issue out of it nor should there be any controversy. PDP-BJP government chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar, who is also the state’s education minister, said some people are creating instability in the state over the J&K flag.