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J & K HC Division bench stays order on flying state's flag

by IBNS 01 Jan 2016, 08:24 pm

Jammu, Jan 2 (IBNS) A Division Bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court has stayed the order of a single bench which had directed hoisting of the state's flag on official buildings and vehicles of constitutional authorities.

The order was given in response to a petition  moved by BJP's National Secretary Farooq Khan challenging the order upholding a government circular which asked all constitutional authorities to hoist the state's flag atop their official buildings and vehicles.

After hearing arguments, the two-judge Division Bench stayed the order.

Jammu and Kashmir has a separate flag as the state enjoys special status in the Constitution of India.

The development prompted former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to tweet, "..so long as J&K is a part of India the two flags will continue to fly & we'll take pride in it... Having a state flag accepted & recognised by the Constitutions of India & J&K is NOT Azadi. Jeez!"

He criticised  Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed saying if he cannot defend the state's dignity and flag from the "nefarious" plans of his ally BJP "he should step down and find someone who can" defend it.