02 Regular IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT SRINAGAR CM(8477/2025) IN WP(C) No. 1756/2021 MOHAMMAD AHSAN RATHER ….. Petitioner(s) Through: Mr. Suhail Mehraj, Advocate vice Mr. Malik Faraz, Advocate. V/s UNION TERRITORY OF J AND K AND ORS. ….. Respondent(s) Through: None. Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rahul Bharti, Judge ORDER 02.02.2026 1. CM No. 8477/2025: 2. The petitioner-Mohammad Ahsan Rather is, alleged to have been engaged by virtue of Engagement Order No. ZEOR/1495 dated 29.07.2010 as “Sweeper cum Helper” in Government Boys Middle School, Krumhoora. Said engagement order above referred later on found to be not originated from the office of Zonal Education Officer and thus by virtue of Order No. 4903/ZEOR dated 15.04.2021 came to be declared as cancelled with a recital that from 29.07.2010 till 15.04.2021 the petitioner had not even drawn any wages for his purported engagement. P a g e | 2 CM(8477/2025) IN WP(C) No. 1756/2021 3. Aggrieved of Order No. 4903/ZEOR dated 15.04.2021, the petitioner came forward with the present writ petition instituted on 03.08.2021 assailing the order and also seeking a direction in his favour to continue his service i.e, after four months of his cancellation of the engagement order. 4. As per the digital file at no point of time, this Court granted no interim direction/relief in favour of the petitioner with respect to the impugned order meaning thereby continuing effect of the impugned order which meant that the petitioner was not in any sort of engagement by purported reference to his Engagement Order No. ZEOR/1495 dated 29.07.2010. 5. In this state of proceedings, the writ petition came to suffer dismissal for non-prosecution in terms of order dated 27.05.2025, when this Court came to observe that consistently there has been absence of counsel for the petitioner as well as the petitioner reckoning from 12.07.2023 onwards on each and every successive date of hearing. 6. Non-seriousness on the part of the petitioner in attending the case is exhibited from the fact that even for the purpose of seeking restoration of the writ petition, the petitioner came P a g e | 3 CM(8477/2025) IN WP(C) No. 1756/2021 forward with a time barred restoration application filed on 11.12.2025 thus suffering delay almost of six months and for that purpose condonation of delay application CM No. 8477/2025 is pending consideration before this court thereby condonation of delay of five months and 11 days is being solicited. 7. The reason given in the condonation of delay application is relatable to medical condition of two brothers of the petitioner/applicant and also the illiteracy aspect. This Court is not convinced that the cause cited in the condonation of delay application in any manner is the cause at first instance and surely not a sufficient cause. Therefore, the application for condonation of delay is dismissed. (Rahul Bharti) Judge SRINAGAR 02.02.2026 Aasif