- During Justice Farooqi’s chairmanship, the Hurriyat constitution committee devised, formulated and wrote the Hurriyat constitution in 1993.
- Farooqi has to his credit, extensive work in documenting and reporting human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. He also served as the 12th chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir in 1983.
Noted Kashmiri jurist, legal luminary and former chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir, Justice Mufti Bahauddin Farooqi passed away at his residence at Jawahar Nagar on Saturday. He was 87.
Hundreds of people, including prominent social, political and religious personalities, participated in his namaz-e-janaza at Khanqah-e-Moula Shrine.
Farooqi is survived by a daughter and three sons.
Farooqi has to his credit, extensive work in documenting and reporting human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. He served as the 12th chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir from March 7, 1983 to August 23, 1983.
Justice Farooqi acted as chairman of the Hurriyat constitution committee which devised, formulated and wrote the Hurriyat constitution in 1993.
Farooqi pursued a Masters Degree in Mathematics and then did Law at Aligarh Muslim University. After accomplishing his studies, he started practice at District Court Anantnag. He then joined judicial service and started his career as munsif in the subordinate judiciary and later served as law secretary to the government during the regime of Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq.
He then became Srinagar district and sessions judge and was elevated as high court judge in 1971. During his tenure, he passed a number of landmark judgments and his judgment regarding anti-defection was the first to be passed by any high court of the country. The judgment became the basis for anti-defection law ratified by the Indian Parliament.
Farooqi resigned in 1983 as Jammu and Kashmir HC CJ, when he was transferred to Sikkim HC, on the ground that Government of India had no jurisdiction to transfer a Jammu and Kashmir HC judge to any part of the country as the state had a special status under Article 370.
He recorded this observation in his written communication to then Indian CJ Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud. In this regard, he also sent a letter to the then Jammu and Kashmir governor, stating that the transfer was victimisation for quashing the anti-defection case which was going against the establishment in New Delhi at that time.
