Tribunals formed to adjudicate if sufficient grounds available to declare J-K groups as banned

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has constituted four tribunals -- all headed by Delhi High Court judge Justice Neena Bansal Krishna -- to adjudicate whether or not there are sufficient grounds for declaring several Jammu and Kashmir-based groups as banned organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The separatist and terror groups were banned on March 12 and 15.

In separate but identical notifications, the ministry said the tribunal has been constituted by exercising the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 5 read with sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967).

The groups are the Jammu Kashmir National Front (JKNF), which was declared as an unlawful association on March 12, and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, headed by jailed separatist Yasin Malik, which was banned on March 15.

The other groups were Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League (JKPFL), which was declared unlawful on March 15 and four factions of the Jammu and Kashmir People's League namely JKPL Mukhtar Ahmed waza faction, JKPL Bashir Ahmad Tota faction, JKPL Ghuma Mohammad Khan faction, also known as Jammu and Kashmir People's Political League, and JKP Aziz Sheikh faction led by Yaqoob Sheikh -- all of them were banned on March 15.