Farooq Abdullah vs ED: Case referred to Division Bench

A petition filed by Member Parliament Dr Farooq Abdullah against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for attaching his property and land worth around Rs 12 crore was heard by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday. The court refered the matter before a division bench after listening to both parties.

Srinagar:The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday heard a petition filed by Member Parliament Dr Farooq Abdullah against the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) move attaching his property and land worth around Rs 12 crore.

The bench, comprising of Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, decided to refer the matter before a division bench after listening to both the parties.

"A similar petition is already under discussion in the Division Bench. Though there are some new developments in the current matter still it will be appropriate that the Division Bench will have the purview on it," Justice Thakur said after hearing the arguments of both the parties.

He further said that the bench will be constituted by the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra and Advocate Areeb Kawoosa were present in the court on the behalf of Dr Farooq while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented Enforcement Directorate.

During the last hearing, the court had sought details regarding the matter from the Enforcement Directorate and Dr Farooq separately. The bench had also fixed the next hearing of the case on March 18.

Earlier, during the first hearing of the case on February 5, Justice Ali Muhammad Magray had said that many people have filed petitions before the court on the same demands before.

"Therefore, a separate hearing of this case is not possible," he had said while referring the case to a single bench.

It may be recalled that in December last year, the Enforcement Directorate had seized land worth about Rs 11.86 crore from Farooq Abdullah during an investigation into alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.