Srinagar, August 13, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has quashed a show-cause notice issued by a Judicial Magistrate First Class to the Shopian District Collector, holding that the magistrate had exceeded the jurisdiction available under the law while dealing with recovery of maintenance.
Justice Rahul Bharti passed the order on August 7 on a petition filed by IAS officer Shishir Gupta, presently serving as Shopian Collector, against Ufaira Gulzar and others.
The matter originated from maintenance proceedings initiated by the wife and daughter of respondent No. 3 under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The proceedings, instituted on April 20, 2023, were decided on December 4, 2025, with the magistrate directing payment of monthly maintenance of Rs 18,000 — Rs 10,000 to the wife and Rs 8,000 to the daughter. The maintenance was made payable from the date of filing of the proceedings.
After the respondent failed to pay the maintenance and accumulated arrears, the beneficiaries filed an execution application on December 9, 2025.
The High Court noted that the execution proceedings remained pending as repeated notices to the respondent went unserved. Instead of resorting to bailable or non-bailable warrants to secure his appearance, the magistrate issued a levy warrant to the District Collector on February 20, 2026, for recovery of the maintenance amount.
The High Court observed that under the applicable provisions of the CrPC, maintenance can be recovered through a warrant for levying the amount as a fine. Once such a warrant is issued, the Collector can initiate recovery against the defaulter’s movable or immovable property.
Subsequently, the magistrate sought details of the defaulter’s movable and immovable assets. The Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Shopian, submitted a report on June 4 identifying immovable property belonging to respondent No. 3.
The magistrate subsequently issued a show-cause notice dated July 10 to the Collector after taking exception to the report for not identifying movable property as well. This prompted the Collector to approach the High Court.
Justice Bharti noted that despite having issued a levy warrant to the Collector on February 20, the magistrate issued another levy warrant on July 4 for service upon the defaulter through the SHO of Police Station Shopian.
The High Court held that there was no scope under the relevant provisions for issuing the second levy warrant and observed that the magistrate had effectively frustrated the earlier warrant issued to the Collector.
Consequently, the court declared the July 10 show-cause notice illegal and set it aside, holding that the Judicial Magistrate had exceeded the jurisdiction available under the CrPC.
However, the High Court directed that the maintenance recovery proceedings should continue through the prescribed legal mechanism. It ordered the magistrate to issue a fresh levy warrant to the District Collector, Shopian.
The court directed that the warrant be executed in accordance with the procedure prescribed for recovery of arrears of land revenue under Section 91 of the Jammu and Kashmir Land Revenue Act.
It further ordered the authorities to proceed with attachment and sale of the identified property of the maintenance defaulter. The recovered amount is to be placed at the disposal of the Judicial Magistrate for payment to the wife and daughter.
The order thus restores the recovery proceedings to the statutory mechanism while ensuring that the maintenance awarded to the two beneficiaries is pursued through the legally prescribed process.
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