Multi-crore Roshni land scam
*Seeks personal appearance of Revenue Secy
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 28: In the much publicised Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting encroachment of 20 lakh kanals of land in J&K Union Territory, Division Bench of the High Court comprising the Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul today expressed anguish over the slow pace of investigation and inordinate delay in grant of prosecution sanction in three FIRs. Moreover, the DB sought personal appearance of the Commissioner/ Secretary Revenue Department on next date of hearing.
When the PIL came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed pointed out that despite the clear directions to GAD the required date-wise report has not been filed which shows the non-serious approach towards Roshini land scam and the issue of prosecution sanction.
He further submitted that out of 17 FIRs pertaining to Roshini land scam registered by SVO (now ACB) between 2014 and 2016 only in 02 FIRs the challans have been presented whereas in rest of the cases the investigation is going on at snail’s pace as the accused involved in these cases are highly influential and are not allowing the investigating agency to pin point the responsibility.
“In most of the cases the files are shuttling between ACB to GAD”, he further said, adding “in case investigation of Roshini land scam continued with ACB nothing will be achieved and people will lose confidence in rule of law”.
Advocate Ahmed further submitted that a cruel joke was played by the GAD when it declined prosecution sanction of the then Deputy Commissioner, Jammu-Hirdesh Kumar Singh (presently Chief Electoral Officer with additional charge of Commissioner/Secretary Transport Department) when the request of ACB for prosecution sanction should have been forwarded to Department of Personnel & Trainings (DoPT), Govt of India.
After considering the submissions of Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan, Mohd Zulkarnain Chowdhary and Irtiza Mushtaq Salaria appearing for the PIL, the DB expressed displeasure over the non-filing of date-wise report by GAD and directed AAG Raman Sharma appearing for GAD/ACB to comply the directions issued on the last date of hearing and also to deal with the manner under which the prosecution sanction matter of Hirdesh Kumar Singh was dealt at the level of GAD.
Advocate Sheikh Faraz Iqbal submitted that the ACB has been selectively targeting the people in Roshini land scam and invited the attention of the Division Bench to Miscellaneous Application No.4035/2020 filed by him wherein it has been divulged that as to how the SVO left out a case of 40 Kanals of land in district Budgam unfairly and did not care to investigate the matter.
Division Bench appreciated the contentions of Advocate Faraz Iqbal and openly observed, “this is all more a good reason to refer the matter to CBI”. However, the DB ordered that this application will remain pending along with other fresh applications moved by Advocate Ahmed, Advocate Himanshu Beotra and Advocate Meenakshi Slathia.
On this, Advocate Ahmed submitted that despite the imposition of costs amounting to Rs 10,000 upon Revenue Department for not filing response in CM. No.1972/2020 regarding encroachment of 154 Kanals of JDA land in Khasra No.781 situated at Village Deeli (Market Market), no reply has been filed. At this stage, Senior AAG S S Nanda appearing for Revenue Department submitted that he has deposited the cost of Rs 10,000 today on behalf of Revenue Department.
However, the DB was annoyed over the non-filing of the reply by the Revenue Department despite the last opportunity granted on the last date of hearing and sought the personal appearance of Commissioner/Secretary Revenue Department on the next date of hearing.
The Division Bench also directed Advocate S S Ahmed to prepare a comprehensive detail/chart of all the pending miscellaneous applications in the instant PIL after coordinating with the Court Master Sham Lal within a period of 03 days.
Senior Advocate P N Raina with former Deputy AG Asheesh Singh Kotwal, Senior Advocate R K Gupta with Advocate Udhay Bhaskar, Senior Advocate M A Goni with Advocate Misba Amin and Advocate Ankur Sharma also caused appearance through virtual mode in the instant PIL.
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