Decisions taken at times are either not conducive for nor help the problem they are supposed to resolve . They often either backfire or lose relevance even if they create not much of confusion . In the heat of tackling a scourge like corruption in our social fabric, the decision to post Special Public Prosecutors (SPPs) for conducting the trials exclusively of such cases which are filed under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act , on the face of it, is beyond creating scope of any type of speculation and shows the eagerness of the UT Government through the aegis of Home Department in ensuring that the corrupt got punished as early as possible. Prosecution of corruption cases, it has generally been observed, is not , however, that easy for various reasons. Problems and difficulties arise right from detection to the prosecution levels which time and again are otherwise reviewed but entrusting the job to Special Public Prosecutors also cannot be termed as a sure guarantee that convictions can not only be more but the entire process also done speedily. It is , however, entirely different a matter that people of high profile, wealthy businessmen, politicians and the like are on regular lookout for exit holes which need to be plugged . The posting of SPPs , however, is still deemed as a right procedure to prosecute the corrupt speedily.
However, posting of such SPPs in those districts of Jammu and Kashmir where there was no separate special court looks prosaic, if not a decision taken in haste and quite randomly thus defeating the very purpose for which the provision of posting of such SPPs has been mooted. Any act of an executive in resolving an issue or a problem , even devising a novel and reformative procedure, should ordinarily never create counter problems but the decision of the Home Department has not been found in good stead and in fact has been found affecting the normal working of some courts where special courts had not been established as recently seen in District Court Udhampur . An applicant filing an application in the court seeking bail on health grounds could not be considered by the Principal Sessions Judge as the special Public Prosecutor which was slated to file his objections to the bail plea was nowhere to be found for reasons of having been transferred and that also on promotion but without providing a substitute . It is not a few days where it could be considered reasonable in posting of and joining the duties by the new incumbent but it is more than a month that no replacement is provided.
What about other cases even of urgent nature, not only the one under reference, which normally should not be allowed to be lingered on in the spirit of disposing of cases speedily and taking on the problem of long pending cases in the courts. What we , therefore, urge the authorities especially in the Home Department, is that the SPPs should not be posted in districts where special courts to try the corruption cases are not set up . Such courts, as on date, are only in the twin capital cities of the UT. A holistic view and accordingly a fresh appraisal of the issue is what administrative pragmatism should indulge in when the sensitive issue of dealing with corruption cases is involved. In districts of Jammu and Kashmir , other than Jammu and Srinagar , corruption cases are otherwise tried by the Additional District Judges under their powers ,though not exclusively, in addition to other normal cases.
See the other part of the story of decision making process bereft of dictated by facts and figures in that just for handling 25 cases of corruption, one special Public Prosecutor has been spared while 1050 cases of varied nature were pending before the Additional District Judge Udhampur which means virtually very less work if agreeably no work and hence less presence in the court of the SPP and hence its under utilization which we normally cannot afford and should not become a practice . Any inadvertent act that aims at choking the judicial system and having a telling effect on the functioning of courts which are already reeling under long pendency of cases, needs to be avoided to be taken.
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