Jammu, March 12. (PTI): It may sound surprising to many, but the Supreme Court of India directly functioned in Jammu and Kashmir in 1957.

This and other little-known facts about the Jammu and Kashmir High Court would be made public in old and rare manuscripts that would be showcased in the Judicial Museum to be inaugurated here today.

"Yes, it is very much true that the Supreme Court functioned in Jammu and Kashmir after the Board of Judicial Advisory (BJA) was abolished in 1957," Principal Secretary to Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Javed Ahmed Kawoos told PTI.

"This is a milestone in the judicial history of Jammu and Kashmir. In no other State has an SC bench operated directly," he said.

The Judicial Museum is the brain child of the present Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice Bashir Ahmed Khan. It was on his initiative that Srinagar Judicial Museum came up in July and was inaugurated by the then Chief Justice of India Justic Y K Sabharwal.

As per the documents, BJA was abolished by a Jammu and Kashmir Constitutional Act in 1957 and at that time, there were 18 appeals pending before the Board, which used to see cases after delivery of judgments by the State High Court.

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