Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 23: A local court here today awarded 7 year imprisonment and fined an ex-Junior Engineer (JE) Rural Development Department for overstaying in service for 21 months on forged date of birth (DoB).
The court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption Pulwama has awarded 7 years simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 50000 on ex JE Rural Development Department Keller-Sonaullah Wani for remaining in extra 21 months in service on fraud and forged date of birth.
The chargesheet against Wani was initially submitted before the court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption Kashmir Srinagar in 2003 for judicial determination and was transferred to Special Judge Anti-Corruption Pulwama 2013 in pursuance to SRO 368 issued by Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Government of Jammu and Kashmir vide notification dated 19.08.2013.
The factual matrix of the matter is that a written complaint was received in Vigilance Organization Kashmir wherein it was alleged that Sonaullah Wani, the then JE Rural Development Department, Block Keller with the connivance of the then BDO M M Banihali has recorded the Date of Birth in his service Book as 1948 while his actual Date of Birth is 1937. A preliminary enquiry vide No:- 42/1998 into the matter was conducted, which disclosed the commission of a cognizable offence, accordingly formal Case FIR was registered in the matter.
It came to fore during the course of investigation that the accused has overstayed in the department fraudulently for a period of 21 months from 08.06.1998 to 04/2000 and obtained illegal benefit amounting to Rs. 2,62,760 for his overstay in the department which is a loss to the State exchequer and corresponding illegal gain to the accused. The pay of the accused was stopped in the month of April, 2000.
The court after giving due consideration to the nature of the offence and the circumstances of the convict said, there is no provision of law making these offences compoundable or permitting release on probation in cases of such serious cheating and forgery involving public trust.
“For offence under Section 467 RPC the convict is sentenced to simple imprisonment for seven years and a fine of Rs. 50,000. In default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment for a further six months and for offence under Section 471 RPC the convict is sentenced to simple imprisonment for five 5 years and a fine of Rs. 20,000. In default of fine, further simple imprisonment for three months. For offence under Section 420 RPC the convict is sentenced to simple imprisonment for five years and a fine of Rs. 20,000. In default of fine, further simple imprisonment for three months”, the court directed.
For offence under Section 5(2) J&K Prevention of Corruption Act, the court further awarded the convict a simple imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs. 2,62,760. “The fine amount for this offence is set equivalent to the quantified wrongful gain derived by the convict so as to make reparations for the loss caused to the State exchequer”, reads the judgment. The court has made it clear that all the substantive sentences of imprisonment shall run concurrently.
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