Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 16: In a significant development, which may lead to reopening of 1988 case of illegal appointments in the Legal Aid Board (now State Legal Services Authority) made at the behest of the then Minister for Law, Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is presently Minister for Agriculture in the National Conference-Congress Coalition Government, the Division Bench of State High Court has sought the record of the case within two weeks for its perusal.
The DB also expressed displeasure over the way the Government was handling the corruption cases and wondered why it didn’t explore the options of termination and dismissal from the services against those officers, who have been held guilty of corrupt practices by the State Vigilance Organization, despite issuing lofty statements on handling corruption with iron hand.
As soon as the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking prosecution sanction against corrupt IAS, IPS, IFS and other ranking officers came up for hearing before the Division Bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice J P Singh, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad appearing for the PIL submitted that directions of the Supreme Court in Paragraph 44 of the judgement rendered in Subramanian Swamy Versus Dr Manmohan Singh and Another case have been violated by the State Government while dealing with the cases pending for according prosecution sanction.
“The Apex Court says that grant of sanction is not a quasi-judicial function and the person for whose prosecution sanction is sought is not required to be heard by the competent authority before it takes decision in the matter but in case of KAS officer Babu Ram, the then CDPO, Social Welfare Department, Doda and presently Joint Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Corporation, the Government has declined prosecution sanction only after going through his representation”, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel pointed out.
Questioning Government’s intention to check corruption and acting tough against corrupt officers with iron hand, the counsel for the PIL filed by Sheikh Mohammad Shafi and Prof S K Bhalla, said, “in the much publicized Panchayat Ghars electrification scam involving the then Director Rural Development Department and presently Member of Legislative Council, the status report filed by the Vigilance Commissioner mentions that High Court vide its order dated July 16, 2008 has stayed the presentation of charge sheet but it is pity that even after the lapse of more than four year no step has been initiated to get the stay vacated”, adding “without vacation of stay, the Vigilance Organization would not be able to present challan especially when the prosecution sanction was recently accorded by the Government on the intervention of High Court”.
On this, the DB observed, “there cannot be any stay which debars Government from according prosecution sanction and acting tough against the corrupt officers. It seems that under the garb of stay regarding presentation of charge sheet in one case, the Government is sitting over so many cases”, adding “on one side the Government is issuing lofty statements about handling corruption in the news-papers and on the other side it is keeping the corrupt officers with itself. Why didn’t Government explore the option of dismissal or termination from the services? It seems that Government is just doing lip service despite the fact that public is worried about growing corruption”.
Advocate Sheikh Shakeel also submitted a copy of General Administration Department order dated March 3, 2010 whereby the Government had closed the case of illegal appointments made in the J&K State Legal Services Authority (then Legal Services Board) in 1988 at the behest of the then Law Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is presently Minister for Agriculture in the National Conference-Congress Coalition Government.
“This indicates how much non-serious the State is to deal with the corruption cases”, the counsel for the PIL said.
After going through the GAD order, the DB observed, “the Government is filing case against Patwaris but when it comes to higher-ups, it drags feet. In such circumstances how the Government can eradicate corruption”, adding “the rule of law is equal for every body. There cannot be different yardsticks for small fries and big fishes”.
As Advocate Sheikh Shakeel prayed for bringing illegal appointments made by former Law Minister under the ambit of present PIL, Senior Additional Advocate General, Gagan Basotra said, “the case can be reopened only on the basis of fresh material”. However, the DB said, “the case can be reopened on the same material also”.
With these observations, the DB directed Senior Additional Advocate General, Gagan Basotra to produce within two weeks the record of case FIR No. 37/87 of 1988 relating to illegal appointments made in the State Legal Services Authority in which the then Law Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir along with two officers G M Thakur and A Q Parray were the accused.
The Senior AAG was also directed to file detailed affidavit mentioning whether any court in Jammu and Kashmir or Apex Court has granted any stay vis-à-vis according prosecution sanction, in how many cases prosecution sanction has been declined and the reasons thereof and the number of cases pending for according sanction with the General Administration Department.
Assistant Solicitor General of India, K K Pangotra was directed to file compliance report in respect of previous order of the Division Bench within two weeks.
According to the details of FIR No. 37/87 of 1988, about 55 persons were appointed by the then Law Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir in the Legal Aid Board as well as in District and Tehsil Committees without adhering to the norms. Even some candidates, who were overage, were also appointed without relaxation of age.
The GAD order dated March 3, 2010 pertaining to this FIR states: “the then Commissioner of Vigilance had vide his communication dated 7-08-90 recommended that in view of the withdrawal of prosecution against two important functionaries—G M Thakur and A Q Parray, it would be in the fitness of things to withdraw the cases against all accused persons including G H Mir. It is quite un-necessary to keep the matter alive in respect of G H Mir as it puts the Government of the time in embracing situation each time the issue is raised in the State Legislature regarding pending corruption cases against Ministers…….”.
Meanwhile, according to the information furnished by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests vis-à-vis prosecution sanction of two IFS officers namely Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, the then MD J&K State Forest Corporation and Abdul Gani Hajam, the then GM State Forest Corporation, the State Government had sent a proposal to the Ministry vide Letter No.GAD (Vig) 38-SP/2010 dated June 22, 2011 seeking permission to prosecute these officers.
However, on examination of the matter, it came to fore that certain documents connected with the proposal were not forwarded to the Ministry. Accordingly, the Ministry vide letter dated August 10, 2011 requested the State Government to provide the relevant documents for further action in the case.
As there was no response from the State Government, the Chief Secretary was requested vide letter dated September 10, 2012 to expedite the process of furnishing required documents. But till date the Ministry has not received any response from the State.
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