Govt has rendered SVC, SAC as ‘white elephants’: DB

Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 21: Expressing displeasure over inordinate delay in providing required paraphernalia to the State Vigilance Commission and State Accountability Commission for ensuring their smooth functioning, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar today said that Government has rendered these vital commissions as ‘while elephants’.
The Division Bench also pulled up Principal Secretary Home Department, Suresh Kumar and Secretary Law Department, Gh Ahmad Mir, who were present in person in compliance to the previous directions, for lack of coordination and sleeping over the files pertaining to providing timely and required support to these Commissions and Prosecuting Officers to the newly designated seven anti-corruption courts.
When the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Sheikh Mohd Shafi and Another Versus Union of India and Others came up for hearing, Senior Additional Advocate General, Gagan Basotra submitted that Principal Secretary Home and Law Secretary have submitted the status reports on establishment of Investigation Wing in the State Accountability Commission and providing of Prosecuting Officers to the Vigilance Commission/ newly designated anti-corruption courts.
He said that the Law Department in consultation with the Home Department has submitted a panel of six officers including two IGPs and one DIG to the Accountability Commission for selection and utilization of their services for conducting preliminary inquiries as provided in the Accountability Commission Act.
Mr Basotra further submitted that Police Department has advertized 98 posts of Prosecuting Officers for recruitment and the first part of the selection process (physical measurement tests) has already been concluded. “As the Police Department is already facing acute shortage of Prosecuting Officers it would be able to make deployment of Prosecuting Officers to the Vigilance Commission and seven anti-corruption courts only when the ongoing recruitment process is completed”, he added.
With these submissions, he sought exemption of Principal Secretary Home and Law Secretary from further personal appearance.
On this, the DB, in the open court, remarked, “we are compelled to call the personal appearance of the officers when nothing moves for years together and the officers sit over the files for quite long time”, adding “we are left with impression that you have set up these Commissions just to show. What do you want to achieve by doing so?
At this stage, the Senior AAG, on the instructions from the Law Secretary, submitted that there are very few cases in the Accountability Commission.
“It is better to wind up the Commissions if you don’t want to make them functional in real sense by providing all necessary support”, the DB further remarked. Why are you going to have such white elephants if there is no seriousness behind making them functional? the DB asked.
“Nothing substantial has been achieved by establishing these Commissions because you are adopting half-hearted approach towards them”, the DB further remarked.
As Senior AAG stated that Home and Law Departments were committed to provide all necessary assistance to Accountability and Vigilance Commissions, the DB said, “had the counsel for the other side been in the court he would have argued about the seriousness adopted by the Government till date about ensuring smooth functioning of these Commissions”.
On this, Prof S K Bhalla, one of the petitioners, who appeared personally in the absence of counsel due to strike of lawyers, drew the attention of DB towards the assertion made by the Principal Secretary Home in the status report vis-à-vis communication and reminders from the Law Department on providing investigation wing to the Accountability Commission.
“The Principal Secretary Home has clearly stated that communication and reminders from the Law Department on the subject were not traceable in the records”, Prof Bhalla said, adding “this indicates how seriously the matters of much importance are being handled in the Home Department. It is only on the orders of the court that things start moving in the Government departments”.
The DB also took serious note of the Home Department stance on providing Prosecuting Officers to the Vigilance Commission and the newly designated anti-corruption courts and remarked, “on one side the Home Department states that there is acute shortage of Senior POs and POs and on the other side the Chief Prosecuting Officers are not taking their job seriously”.
“Your CPOs are doing nothing…they are just sitting in the offices of the SSPs and SPs”, the DB remarked in the open court. The DB directed the Home Department to ensure presence of CPOs in the courts.
In the absence of counsel for the PIL due to lawyers’ strike, the DB asked the Registry to list the PIL on April 23. However, the DB exempted Home and Law Secretaries from further personal appearance.

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