Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 26: In the much publicized Gulmarg land scam, State Vigilance Organization today presented challan against 19 persons including the then Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Mehboob Iqbal and the then Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Farooq Ahmad Shah, in the Court of Special Judge Anticorruption.
This challan was also presented in compliance to the directions of the Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar on August 28, 2012, in Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against inordinate delay in according sanction to prosecute serving and retired officers, who were booked by the Vigilance Organization several years back for their involvement in corrupt practices.
Besides former IAS officer Mehboob Iqbal and the then Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Farooq Ahmad Shah, the other accused officials are Garib Singh, the then Tehsildar Tangmarg, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah, the then Naib Tehsildar Kunzer, Shabir Ahmad Pir, the then Naib Tehsildar Tangmarg, Azad Farooq Naikoo, the then Girdawar Tehsil Office Tangmarg, Bashir Ahmed Mir, the then Patwari Gulmarg.
The beneficiaries in the case are Abdul Hamid Dar, resident of Chandiloora Tangmarg, Nazir Ahmad Mir, resident of Hariwatnu Tangmarg, Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, resident of Wazirbagh Srinagar, Manzoor Ahmad Khan, resident of Ummar Colony Lal Bazaar Srinagar, Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai, resident of Nishat, Mushtaq Ahmad Burza, resident of Ishber Nishat, Manzoor Ahmad Burza, resident of Ishber Nishat, Syed Musadiq Shah, resident of Nishat, Khurshid Ahmad Salmani, resident of Bal Garden Srinagar and Mohammad Afzal Khanday, resident of Nowgam Bypass. Two stamp venders of Saddar Court Srinagar namely Ghulam Mohammad Dar, resident of Rambagh and Ahmad Shah, resident of Nowpora Srinagar are also accused in the case.
According to the challan, the accused public servants in league with each other entered into criminal conspiracy with accused beneficiaries and accordingly manipulated the records by abusing their official positions. In this way, they illegally conferred the ownership rights on 35 kanals and 6 marlas of the prime State land at Gulmarg in favour of accused beneficiaries in contravention of the provisions of the J&K State Land (Vesting of Ownership Rights to the Occupants) Act, 2001, which was otherwise not applicable in Gulmarg.
The then Divisional Commissioner, Mehboob Iqbal was found to have made an extra effort in getting the cases processed and holding the meeting for conferring the benefits to the beneficiaries under Roshni Act, which during the course of investigation was not found applicable in Gulmarg.
The stamp vendors played vital role by dishonestly and fraudulently providing the accused beneficiaries the stamp paper/attestation of the back date thereby showing their applications filed within the cutoff date in Tehsil Office Tangmarg for seeking propriety rights on the leased out land at Gulmarg.
In the challan, the Vigilance Organization has mentioned that the case against Baseer Ahmad Khan, the then Deputy Commissioner Baramulla and presently Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar would be produced on receipt of prosecution sanction. The Court has fixed December 1, 2012 as next date of hearing in the case.
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