The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has announced that it has concluded a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was linked to the preservation of green space and parks in the Kashmir and Jammu divisions. The court said that it was happy with the maintenance that the authorities provided for the parks.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was ended after a division bench composed of Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi reviewed the reports that the authorities had submitted. These reports detailed the efforts that had been made to create and preserve green space in the cities of Srinagar, Jammu, and other areas.
This Court is also convinced that the relevant authorities are taking the necessary steps to maintain and protect the open areas and parks in the area. Because we are of the opinion that it may not be essential for us to monitor the same at this time, the bench has decided to end the current public interest litigation case.
However, the Court decided that the petitioner would be free to reactivate the PIL if the government failed to maintain and conserve the green space and parks. This decision was reached after the court heard oral arguments.
In May 2016, the former top judge of Bihar, judge (retired) Bilal Nazki, sent a letter to the chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court pointing out the absence of green areas in the city. The letter was sent to the chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. In 2017, the High Court determined that the letter should be handled as a public interest lawsuit. The court had previously requested that senior attorney Faisal Qadri provide assistance with the issue in the capacity of Amicus Curia.
The report that was presented by the authorities in reference to the city of Srinagar revealed that they successfully concluded the Tulip Show 2022 with the united efforts of a variety of administrative wings and departments. According to the news, the Tulip Garden has been awarded a distinguished position in the World Book of Records (London).
“This has been a monumental recognition of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir hailing the Tulip Garden as Asia’s largest tulip paradise, adorned with 1.5 million tulip bulbs,” the report added. “This has been a monumental recognition of the Tulip Garden as Asia’s largest tulip paradise.”
According to the source, Nishat, Shalimar, Cheshmashahi, and PariMahal are the four Mughal gardens that have been included on the tentative list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The Department of Floriculture and the JSWF, which is a public charitable trust, have begun working together on a pilot project, and on July 28, 2021, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a collaborative partnership. This partnership will be responsible for the conservation and maintenance work at select sites, including Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh.
In a similar vein, the Director of Floriculture’s report for the Jammu Division revealed that the department is currently overseeing 64 parks and gardens with a combined area of 1898.74 kanals. In spite of the fact that the report said that the use of single-use plastic and any other kind of plastic material is expressly forbidden in all of the existing parks and gardens that are cared for by the Department, it also stated that all of the existing parks and gardens have been outfitted with grill fences to ensure that visitors do not have their line of sight blocked from the outside. According to the findings of the department’s field officers, “there is no encroachment in any of the parks or gardens that are maintained by the department,” the report said.
The report disclosed that the toilet facility and Mali sheds have been supplied at suitable sites and that the Department has provided garden shredders as well as erected compost pits in major parks and gardens managed by the Department for the disposal of garden waste. In addition, the report said that the department has given garden shredders. According to the report, ramps for handicapped and physically challenged individuals have been erected in the majority of the existing parks and gardens that are managed by the Department. These ramps have been installed wherever they were necessary.
