Jammu, Jan 04: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today administered the Oath of Office to Justice Pankaj Mithal as the new Chief Justice of the Common High Court for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh at a swearing-in ceremony here at Convention Centre.
The Lt Governor congratulated Justice Pankaj Mithal for his new appointment.
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The Registrar General of the High Court read out the warrant of appointment. Proceedings of the Oath Ceremony were conducted by Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor.
Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal has been appointed to head the High Court for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in view of the retirement of Chief Justice Gita Mittal recently.
Former Chief Justice, J&K, Justice Gita Mittal; Judges of the High Court, J&K; Judges from Allahabad High Court; Members of Parliament; Advisors to the Lt Governor; Chief Secretary; Administrative Secretaries; Senior officers of Judiciary; Civil Administration; Police; family members and friends of Justice Pankaj Mithal were also present on the occasion.
A police official told that Ramban police intercepted an Innova vehicle at the railway chowk in Banihal, apprehending two individuals associated with large-scale narcotics.
The vehicle, travelling from Kashmir towards Jammu, was found to be concealing a substantial quantity of high-valued narcotics, he said.
During a thorough search, the police made a startling discovery, saying they recovered approximately 30 kilograms of a heroin-like substance from hidden compartments within the vehicle.
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The international market value of the seized drugs is estimated to be around Rs 100 crores, according to the official.
The arrested persons are currently in police custody, and further investigations are underway to ascertain the source and destination of this illicit substance, the official said.
He added that authorities are also actively pursuing leads to identify potential links to larger drug trafficking networks. KNO
Reports reaching Asian News Hub (ANH) said that a fire broke out from a residential shed at around 04:30 am on Sunday morning which spread to other residential sheds within no time.
They said, fire tenders reached the spot on time however, upon their arrival nearly 17 sheds had suffered damages and the fire was brought into control within no time.
Meanwhile, police have taken cognizance of the incident and the cause of fire was not known immediately.
Despite the augmentation of power infrastructure and the installation of much-hyped smart meters, the electricity woes continue to torment the valley residents ahead of the winter as since past one week, consumers are facing pesky power cuts across the Valley.
The situation is equivalent in towns, cities and villages as the consumers have accused the concerned Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) of supplying inadequate electricity to them.
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“Despite the installation of smart meters, which were aimed to ensure better power supply, we are getting nearly 4-5 hours of electricity supply on a regular basis, which has added to the misery of consumers here,” said Jahangir Ahmad, a local from the Natipora area.
“Crores of rupees have been spent on the power infrastructure augmentations in the last couple of years, which were giving a hope of round-the-clock electricity to the people, but all in vein as seemingly the winter power schedule has been started in the valley during the Autumn season, thus pushing the people to the wall,” the residents said.
Such unscheduled power cuts are being witnessed everywhere nowadays as the complaints are being received from several other areas also.
The consumers said that the electricity is being snatched for hours together and is being supplied for only a few hours in a day.
“The electricity supply was snatched multiple times today, which began from 6am to 8:30 am in the morning, 1 am to 2:30 pm in the afternoon and then 6pm to 8:30 pm in the evening,” one of the residents from Pampore said.
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The frequent electricity cuts have irked the people, who demand authorities to take immediate steps to ensure adequate power supply to them.
Pertinently, Kashmir’s power generation has got badly affected as according to the KPDCL Chief Engineer, Javed Yousuf Dar, the reduction in water level in river Jhelum, Chenab has lessened the power generation at the power houses of Kashmir.
“We are presently looking for an option to get the additional electricity to ensure adequate power supply to the people. We are on it and hopefully, the issue will be resolved in next few days,” Chief Engineer, KPDCL had said. KNO