Jammu Tawi, Dec 17:
A Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Javed Iqbal Wani appreciated the efforts put in by the office of the Advocate General in collecting and compiling the information as sought for by the Division Bench pursuant to its last orders regarding the list of the officers including the officers of All India Service against whom the investigation stood finalized in the corruption cases but are awaiting the prosecution for want of prosecution sanctions under Prevention of Corruption Act.
Invariably reported Public Interest Litigation (PIL No.9/2012) titled Sheikh Mohammad Shafi & Anr versus Union of India & Ors came up for hearing, the Advocate General D.C. Raina assisted by AAG Raman Sharma in the open court filed a status report in the shape of 04 compilations.
The Advocate General apprised the Division Bench that the first compilation gives the picture of the cases where the Govt. has granted sanction for the prosecution of the officers year-wise with full details of every officer, the second compilation was regarding the FIRs registered with the Anti-Corruption Bureau, wherein sanctions are pending with the GAD, third compilation was regarding the Regular Departmental Actions (RDA) taken in the last two years i.e. 2020 & 2021 and the last compilation was regarding the advisories and alert notes issued by the GAD to the officers of the various Departments.
The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal took on record the four compilations filed by the Advocate General in the open court. The Advocate General submitted that the message was very loud from the Government that there should be no delay in grant of prosecution sanctions in corruption cases and the message was clear from the Government that no tainted person shall be assigned the sensitive/prime positions.
The Division Bench appreciated the efforts put in by the office of the Advocate General in collecting and compiling all the above information within the short span of time and to place it before the Court.
The Division Bench further observed that Advocates – Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, Rahul Raina and Supriya Chouhan appearing for the petitioners should also be provided with the set of above four compilations as prayed for and is allowed a month’s time to go through the above reports and to come up with their suggestions on the next date.
It is worthwhile to mention herein that in PIL No.9/2012 filed by Sheikh Mohammad Shafi and Prof. SK Bhalla, the petitioners highlighted the slow approach of the Government while granting prosecution sanctions in corruption cases and because of the indulgence shown by the Division Bench several significant orders came to be passed in the instant PIL which resulted in grant of prosecution sanctions in various scams including Gulmarg land scam. Even the appointment of the then Chairman J&K BOSE was quashed in the instant PIL and apart from this the Division Bench is monitoring several departmental inquiries in the said PIL.
The Division Bench directed the Registry to re-notify the instant PIL on March, 28, 2022.
