*Over 500 accused officers remain unpunished
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 30: Both the premier investigating agencies of Jammu and Kashmir—State Vigilance Organization and Crime Branch, have come under scanner for slackness in disposal of cases of corruption, embezzlement and other illegal acts involving hundreds of officers and officials of the State Government. The intensity of non-seriousness can be gauged from the fact that fate of 383 such cases is hanging in balance during the past several years due to which not only the much talked about crusade against corruption has suffered severe setback but also the erring public servants are remaining unpunished.
According to the data of General Administration Department, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, 333 FIRs registered by the State Vigilance Organization (SVO) during the period between 2010 and 2015 are pending for disposal because of different reasons. Of these FIRs, Vigilance Organization Jammu registered 150 FIRs and 183 by Vigilance Organization Kashmir.
The allegations against the erring public servants included demand and acceptance of bribe for performing official duty, manipulation of records in order to confer undue benefits, fraudulent withdrawal of payments at the cost of State exchequer and possessing of Disproportionate Assets etc.
Shockingly, the fate of these 333 FIRs is hanging in balance as neither there was focus on completion of investigation in a time bound manner nor any serious attention was paid towards vigorously following the cases sub-judice in the courts.
This can be gauged from the fact that out of 30 FIRs registered by the Vigilance Organization Jammu in 2010, 23 are sub-judice in the courts and rest are still under investigation. Similarly, 10 out of 28 cases of 2011 are pending due to court’s intervention and rest are still under investigation. Likewise, three cases of 2012 are sub-judice and 28 are still being probed by the Vigilance sleuths. According to the data, 15 cases of 2013 and 32 cases of 2014 are still under investigation.
As far as Vigilance Organization Kashmir is concerned, 28 cases of 2010 are sub-judice and 9 are still under investigation. Similarly, 21 cases of 2011 are sub-judice and 15 are still being probed by the Vigilance sleuths. Moreover, 17 cases of 2012 are sub-judice and 13 are still under investigation.
About another premier investigating agency of J&K, the data said that 51 cases are pending for disposal in the Crime Branch. Out of these 51 cases, challans have been prepared and sent to the Government through Crime Branch Headquarters for accord of prosecution sanction in two cases while as in remaining 49 cases investigation is still going on. Shockingly, some of these cases were registered way-back in 1993 and 2008.
Even those two cases pertaining to embezzlements in CAPD Department and mis-utilization of funds by the Municipality, which were forwarded to the concerned departments for prosecution sanction, have not been received back till date despite lapse of several years.
How could these premier investigating agencies justify inordinate delay in taking such a large number of FIRs to the logical conclusion? sources asked, adding though for ‘under-investigation’ cases they are directly responsible for the slackness, they even cannot shirk themselves from the responsibility of sub-judice cases as after all it is their responsibility to provide requisite details collected during the investigations to the courts for prompt disposal of such cases.
How can those at the helm of affairs in the State Vigilance Organization justify the delay of five years in taking FIR registered against a Patwari for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 3000 to the logical conclusion? What sort of investigation is this? Moreover, there is no justification behind delaying investigation into denial of benefit of developmental works due to faulty execution of projects.
Even those who remained at the helm of affairs in both these investigating agencies cannot absolve themselves of inordinate delay in completion of investigations into the cases of corruption and other illegal acts, sources said, adding “Home Department is also responsible for hanging fate of such a large number of cases as officers posted in these premier investigating agencies are answerable to the Home Secretary.
“The prevailing situation demands Chief Minister, who is also holding the portfolio of Home Department, to take urgent steps for infusing new lease of life into these premier investigating agencies otherwise a message would go to the public that Government believes in shielding the corrupt officers and officials instead of ensuring rule of law to prevail”, sources stressed.
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