Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 17: In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking State Vigilance Organization (SVO) probe into allotment scam in Jammu Municipal Corporation, Division Bench of the State High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and Justice Sanjeev Kumar today extended three weeks further time for filing of response by the Commissioner/Secretary General Administration Department, Commissioner/Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department, Director State Vigilance Organization, former Commissioner/Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department and others.
In the PIL filed by a practicing lawyer Irtiza Mushtaq prayer has been made for quashment of orders whereby Jammu Municipal Corporation has allotted 10 Municipal Flats situated at Gandhi Nagar on pick and choose basis.
When the PIL came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Suraj Singh and Supriya Chouhan appearing for the petitioner submitted that on December 29, 2017 the Division Bench had taken cognizance of the PIL by issuing notices to the State Government and the beneficiaries of the illegal allotment returnable by February 16, 2018 and thereafter matter was also listed on February, 16, 2018 when the Division Bench again extended four weeks time for filing of response but despite that except Jammu Municipal Corporation and one Bharat Bhushan (Driver JMC) beneficiary of allotment no other respondent including Commissioner/Secretary GAD, Commissioner/Secretary H&UDD and Director Vigilance have come up with their response.
Advocate Ahmed submitted that all out attempt was being made to shield the tainted officers who made illegal allotments by abusing their official position and for this reason there was intentional/deliberate delay in filing of response by GAD, H&UDD and State Vigilance Organization. He further submitted that prime property/flats of JMC at posh Gandhi Nagar have been allotted to high-ups and other employees of the JMC at a meager rent of Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 per month thereby causing immense loss to the State exchequer.
At this stage, Senior AAG S S Nanda caused appearance on behalf of the State Government and undertook to file response to the PIL within a period of three weeks positively. Senior Advocates U K Jalali, R K Gupta, Advocates S K Anand, Adarsh Sharma, Abhinav Sharma, Ajay Bakshi and K K Jandial appeared on behalf of the beneficiaries (private respondents) and on their prayer the Division Bench granted further three weeks time to file response to the PIL whereas Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing on behalf of Jammu Municipal Corporation submitted that he has already filed his reply.
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