SRINAGAR: The post of Advocate General of Jammu and Kashmir has been vacant for over a year as the resignation of previous Advocate General D C Raina is still awaiting formal acceptance and no proposal to fill the post has been initiated so far.

Responding to an RTI query filed by Jammu-based RTI activist Raman Kumar Sharma, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Department of Law and Justice admitted that the post of Advocate General is lying vacant in J&K from the date on which the last Advocate General (D C Raina) tendered his resignation.

However, the government response does not mention the exact date of Raina’s resignation.

After swearing-in of the Omar-led government in October last year, Raina had submitted his resignation.

Omar wanted him to continue in the office but there has been a difference of opinion on the issue from the Lieutenant Governor’s office, which was reportedly opposed to his continuation.

Due to the impasse, the critical legal office in J&K has remained in limbo. The concerned authorities have neither accepted Raina’s resignation nor initiated the process for appointing new Advocate General.

Raina was appointed Advocate General by J&K’s first Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu, on November 1, 2019.