*Warns to initiate stern action against erring officers
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 14: Stating that investigation into various FIRs relating to Roshni land scam is being deliberately delayed to enable the accused to destroy evidence, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Tashi Rabstan has fixed December 17 deadline for the Director of Vigilance and all the Special Investigation Teams to complete investigation.
The DB, while directing the Director State Vigilance Organization to make use of various coercive methods proceeded in the Criminal Procedure Code for completion of investigation, has warned to initiate stern action under law against the officials, who would try to act arbitrarily by keeping the slow pace of probe.
“The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Prof S K Bhalla Versus State and Others and connecting Civil Miscellaneous Applications (CMAs) expose the ugly face of implementing the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 popularly known as Roshni Scheme”, the DB observed.
While pointing towards the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ending March 31, 2013, the DB said, “the State Government before the CAG had taken the stand that there was no deviation in implementation of the Roshni Act and action would be taken against the erring officials if anything is found wrong”, adding “the CAG on its turn has disapproved the reply of the department stating that it didn’t relate to the audit findings”.
It has been brought on record that direction was issued by the State Vigilance Commission to the State Vigilance Organization to register multiple FIRs constituting four Special Investigating Teams to investigate the scam of greatest magnitude concerning land. The team for Jammu-Samba districts is headed by SSP Vigilance Organization, Jammu and the team for Udhampur district is headed by SSP Vigilance of this district. The team for Srinagar and Budgam districts is headed by SSP Srinagar.
“Despite the constitution of SITs, nothing concrete has been brought on record to show that the investigation in the FIRs is either complete or near completion”, the DB said while expressing dismay on the slow pace of investigation in the matter of such a serious magnitude, which can easily be styled as the biggest land scam of the State.
The DB, after hearing the arguments of Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad for the petitioner and Senior AAG Gagan Basotra for the State, has further observed, “a natural corollary flows to doubt, whether the investigating agency like Vigilance Organization is serious about investigation of the crime or they are completely slow peddling the issue”.
“We are left with the impression that investigation in respect of various FIRs is deliberately delayed so as to enable the accused to destroy evidence”, the DB said, adding the collection of documentary evidence in the present case should not have taken more than two months and the accused could have been proceeded under various criminal cases. The action with regard to transfer and re-transfer of the land to the State should have been initiated.
The DB has further stated, “if the Vigilance Organization takes its task seriously, it could have completed the investigation by now and produced challan by bringing the guilty to the books”, adding “the FIRs which have been registered may not take in their sweep, all the accused and the investigation assumed greater importance so that others, who are not named in the FIRs may also be brought to book”.
With these observations, the DB has directed the Director of State Vigilance Organization and all the SITs to complete investigation on or before December 17, 2014. “In case the investigation is not completed by the fixed date then the Director Vigilance shall remain present in person”, the DB said, adding “the Director is further directed to make use of various coercive methods proceeded in the Criminal Procedure Code for completion of investigation including the attachment of the property, accounts and even auction of the property belonging to the accused”.
Warning against further slow peddling, the DB said, “if we find that the Director Vigilance has been acting arbitrarily by keeping the slow pace of investigation then various presumption available in law shall be reached by initiating proceedings against the erring officials”.
Earlier, during the course of arguments in the PIL and connected CMAs, the Chief Justice, in the open court, had dubbed the State Vigilance Organization as “lazy organization” after the Senior Additional Advocate General, Gagan Basotra failed to specific any time-frame for the completion of investigation into six FIRs even after being given opportunity by the DB to seek instruction from the Director Vigilance in this regard.
The Comptroller and Auditor General in its report has observed that the principal objective of the Act was to raise resources for investment in power sector and the Government had estimated resource mobilization of about Rs 25,448 crore by selling 20,64,972 kanals of State land under unauthorized occupation.
However, only Rs 76.24 crore (24 percent) was reportedly realized against a demand of Rs 317.64 crore raised by the end of March 2013 in the actual transfer of 3,48,160 kanals in the State. Thus, the principal objective of the Act vis-à-vis raising of resources for investment in power sector got defeated although the State lost sizeable land.
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