Gulmarg land scam
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 18: Division Bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and First Puisne Judge Justice Rajesh Bindal will examine date-wise summary of proceedings in FIR No.08/2009 (infamous Gulmarg land scam) on April 15.
When the matter came up for hearing, the DB, in the open court, observed, “date-wise summary of proceedings in case FIR No.08/2009 VOK has been received from the court of 1st Additional Sessions Judge (Special Judge Anti-Corruption), Baramulla pursuant to order dated March 12, 2020 and we will examine the same on April 15”.
On this, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan and Mohd Zulkarnain Chowdhary appearing for the PIL highlighting organized land grabbing by a section of bureaucrats, politicians, police officers and land mafia, invited the attention of the Division Bench towards the latest status report of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed on March 17, 2020 wherein in a tabular form, the ACB indicated the status of 17 FIRs relating to Roshni land scam.
The Division Bench, in the open court, perused the status report and expressed its displeasure over inordinate delay towards the completion of investigation in 09 FIRs. However, AAG Raman Sharma appearing for Anti-Corruption Bureau submitted that ACB will come out with updated/latest status report indicating the stage of investigation in each and every FIR.
He further submitted that ACB will pursue those cases particularly in FIR No.16/2014 VOJ wherein the order granting sanction for prosecution was stayed by the High Court on February 18, 2016.
At this stage, Advocate Ahmed submitted, “in FIR No.18/2014 VOK and FIR No.19/2014 VOK, the cases after investigation being concluded as proved were submitted to the Government for accord of prosecution sanction on November 15, 2018 and October 17, 2016 but till date the prosecution sanction is awaited”.
Earlier, Advocate Rohit Kapoor moved an application seeking impleadment of Manzoor Ahmed Khan as party respondent in the instant PIL and stated that certain media reports of court proceedings are not correct and have caused damage to the reputation of his client who is yet to face a trial.
Senior Advocate R K Gupta, Advocates Rahul Pant and Sheikh Faraz Iqbal also drew the attention of the Division Bench towards the applications filed on behalf of Sheikh Mehboob Iqbal, Mushtaq Ahmed Burza, Nazir Ahmed Mir and Abdul Hamid Dar seeking their impleadment as party respondents.
They vociferously argued that the continuous prejudicial reporting of this PIL is causing immense loss to the reputation of the applicants who have been arrayed as accused in Gulmarg land scam. They further submitted that the one sided reporting may influence the Trial Judge where almost arguments on framing of charge have been finalized.
Division Bench placed on record the applications seeking impleadment.
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