Courts Must Be Judicious While Granting Interim Relief In Matters Involving Public Infrastructure & Welfare Schemes: J&K&L High Court

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has flagged delays that stalled the establishment of the Aishmuqam Degree College for more than a decade, resulting in what the Court described as “avoidable hardship” and “educational loss” to successive batches of students.

A bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal cautioned that “Courts must remain judicious and miser in granting interim relief in matters involving public infrastructure and welfare schemes.”

Such orders, it said, should be “time-bound,” and matters of “public significance must be adjudicated with urgency” to prevent projects from being derailed “by the mere passage of time.”

The Court observed that the Government's “indecisiveness,” “avoidible delays,” and “absence of clear stand” had “escalated into prolonged litigation, thereby frustrating the very purpose for which the college was sanctioned.”

The Bench noted that “an entire generation of students… have been compelled to travel long distances,” a burden that “weighs heavily upon the conscience of this Court.”

Calling the case “a stark example of how indecision, litigation, and administrative inconsistency can inflict unintended yet severe harm,” the Court held that both expert committees of 2012 and 2018 had “unequivocally recommended” Aishmuqam for the college, and the Government's decision to shift the location to Silligam was “unsupported by any cogent reasons” and vitiated by “manifest arbitrariness and non-application of mind.”

The Court quashed Government Order No. 300-HE of 2018 and directed the Government to establish the Degree College at Aishmuqam “with utmost expedition,” making it clear that “no further delay shall be countenanced.”

Case-Title: Residents of Village Siligam, Adhard vs Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, 2025

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