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Srinagar, Mar 3 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has banned shifting of 550 orphans from earthquake-ravaged areas of the Valley to Pune in Maharashtra.

Giving directions on a public interest litigation filed by the Kashmir Bar Association, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Bashir Ahmad Khan and Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, imposed a temporary ban on the shifting of orphans to Pune.

In its PIL filed last month, the Bar Association through President advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom had stated that an NGO was taking the orphans to Pune without the consent of their guardians or relatives.

The court had then directed the NGO to file the particulars of all those people who had given it the consent to shift the children.

The NGO had submitted that the orphans were in Pune on a short vacation for about one-and-a-half month.

The PIL also said the state and the central governments have not submitted their objections in the case.

In its order, the High Court asked both the state and the central governments to file their objections within 10 days, and imposed a temporary ban on the shifting of orphans to Pune.

UNI AG SC RN1554