Srinagar- In a significant order, a Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh (Jammu Bench) (through Virtual mode) comprising the Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M A Chowdhary has directed Advocate Sumant Sudan appearing vice DSGI Vishal Sharma appearing for MHA/DoPT, Govt. of India, to file the updated status report with regard to the comments sent by General Administration Department (GAD) of J&K Government on December 27, 2024 with regard to five IAS officers and others in the infamous Arms Licenses Scam.
The IAS and KAS officers under investigation include Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, the then District Magistrate, Udhampur; Niraj Kumar, the then District Magistrate, Udhampur; Yasha Mudgal, the then District Magistrate, Udhampur; Prasanna Ramaswamy G, the then District Magistrate, Leh; M. Raju, the then District Magistrate, Kargil; Fida Hussain (KAS), the then District Magistrate, Kargil; Jitendra Kumar Singh, the then District Magistrate, Rajouri, Faqir Chand Bhagat (JKAS), the then District Magistrate, Rajouri; Hemant Kumar Sharma (JKAS), the then District Magistrate, Rajouri; Shabir Ahmad Butt (JKAS), the then District Magistrate, Rajouri.
When this much publicised Public Interest Litigation (PIL No.09/2012 titled Sheikh Mohd. Shafi and Anr. V/s Union of India and Ors.) came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina, Supriya Chouhan and Mohd. Zulkarnain Chowdhary appearing for the petitioners submitted that Govt. of J&K is shielding the high profile bureaucrats in the Arms Licenses Scam, as despite CBI’s repeated communications the Govt. of J&K is not forwarding the prosecution proposals to MHA/DoPT as per Single Window System evolved by DoPT, Govt. of India.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed while referring to the status reports dated December 5th, 2023, December 20th, 2023 filed by the General Administration Department (GAD) pointed out that all out efforts are being made to give safe passage to the IAS Officers whose names have surfaced after an in-depth investigation by CBI in two FIRs i.e. FIR No. RCCHGO51201850006 dated October 16th, 2018 and FIR No. RCCHGO51201850007 dated October 16th, 2018 (infamous Arms Licenses Scam).
Advocate S.S. Ahmed vehemently argued that CBI’s investigation in the scam was completed way back in 2020/2021 and since then the CBI has been flashing communications to the J&K Govt. to moot the proposals to MHA/DoPT, Govt. of India for prosecution sanction of the IAS Officers allegedly involved in the scam but the Govt. of J&K in order to confer undue favour to the Members of All India Services has unnecessarily entered into a correspondence with Law Department of J&K Govt. and Regional Office of CBI, Chandigarh.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further submitted that the Supreme Court of India in its celebrated judgment titled Dr. Subramanian Swamy V/s Dr. Manmohan Singh reported as (2012) 3 SCC 64 has fixed a timeline of two months for the competent authority to accord or refuse prosecution sanction in corruption matters and in default the Supreme Court has directed that it is a case of ‘Deemed Sanction’.
He further submitted that this court in view of the lackadaisical approach of the Govt. of J&K should issue a direction to the GAD to forward the prosecution proposals to MHA/DoPT without any further delay. In this regard, Advocate S.S. Ahmed referred to Order dated August 28th, 2012 passed by the Division Bench in the instant PIL then comprised of the then Chief Justice M.M. Kumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar (since retired) whereby the Division Bench in case FIR No.08/2009 P/S, VOK (in famous Gulmarg Land Scam) had directed the Govt. of J&K to forward the papers of Baseer Ahmad Khan (IAS) to the Govt. of India for his prosecution sanction within two weeks.
Advocate Ahmed sought the indulgence of the Division Bench to pass similar order so that faith of common man is instilled in ‘Rule of Law’ as in the similar scam, the prosecution sanction has been accorded with regard to KAS Officers by the GAD and 13 charge sheets have been filed in the designated CBI Courts.
At this stage, AAG Raman Sharma appearing for Govt. of J&K (GAD) submitted that in terms of Order dated November 21st, 2024, he has filed a status report in the Registry on December 27th, 2024 and the Division Bench in the open court observed that the said status report is not before the court, however, AAG Raman Sharma supplied a copy of the status report in the open court and the same was taken on record.
The Division Bench after perusing the status report observed that with regard to Sr. No. 01 Rajeev Ranjan (IAS), the then District Magistrate, Kupwara sanction for prosecution has been issued vide Order dated November 28th, 2024 issued by the MHA/DoPT. The Division Bench also observed that names of the officers have been mentioned at Sr. Nos. 02, 03, 05 & 06 and the GAD has communicated its comments to the Ministry of Home Affairs vide its communication dated December 27th, 2024 for final decision in the matter.
The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan also allowed time to Advocate S.S. Ahmed to file his response to the status report filed by the GAD before the next date of hearing i.e. February 13th, 2025. (ANB)
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