Jammu and Kashmir High Court to have power audit after recent outage cripples court on winter morning

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court will undergo an audit for calculation of its electricity requirement to avoid a repeat of the recent power failure that crippled the lights and heating system of the Court on a cold winter day [Aaqib Hussain & Ors. V/s University of Kashmir & Ors]..After the bench at Srinagar on February 19 was plunged into darkness for hours, the division bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi had asked the Chief Secretary of J&K UT to intervene, while describing the situation as pathetic and unbelievable..Following the order, the Court on February 21 had a meeting with Sajad Ahmad Naqeeb, the Chief Engineer of Public Works (Roads and Buildings) Department who suggested that a power audit of the High Court be carried out by Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited. The Court then that instructed the High Court Registrar Judicial to send a letter to the power company to ensure that “the total requirement of the High Court is calculated and the same be communicated to the PWD to ensure such less incidents does not happen in future.”.Naqeeb earlier cited overload as reason for the recent power failure at the High Court. The Court was told that the total failure was on account of the abrupt break-down of the 250 KVA [Kilo-vatt-amperes] generator due to overloading “as the other generator 320 KVA was still undergoing maintenance for almost two months”.The Court expressed “concern” that the period of maintenance was excessively long.It further stressed that responsibility "must be affixed within the organization as to why a vital equipment that was necessary to supply power to the High Court during the power-cut was under maintenance for two long months”..However, after the Chief Engineer assured the High Court that it shall never have power cuts of this duration ever again and the Department can hire a 320 KVA generator as a standby to ensure seamless power, the Court expressed satisfaction.“In view of the assurance given by Mr. Sajad Ahmad Naqeeb, Chief Engineer, we are satisfied that no further action needs to be taken in this case. The issue can be given a quietus,” it ordered..The Court on February 19 was hearing a case related to University of Kashmir when it took note of the power failure that started around 9:30 am and hadn’t been restored even till 11:28 am. “During Court hours, the High Court has suffered a complete power failure. The generator is also not working. There are no lights. The air heating unit (AHU) is also not functional. It is pathetic and unbelievable that this is the condition of Srinagar Wing of the High Court of High Court of J&K and Ladakh," it had noted while seeking a permanent solution..[Read Order]