Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 17: State Government’s slack approach towards providing vital wing to the seven Additional District and Sessions Courts has finally come to an end with Vigilance Organization providing prosecutors although over one year after the designation of these courts as Anti-Corruption Courts. Now, the adjudication of thousands of corruption cases including those involving serving and retired senior bureaucrats would get impetus.
However, large number of such cases would have come to the logical conclusion till date had these courts been provided with prosecutors soon after these courts were empowered to hear the cases under Section 6 of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act, 2006.
Following designation of these courts as Anti-Corruption Courts vide SRO No.368 dated August 29, 2013, the cases pending adjudication in the Anti-Corruption Courts at Srinagar and Jammu were transferred to the respective empowered courts having jurisdiction for further proceedings.
However, the fate of thousands of corruption cases continued to hang in balance for want of prosecutors and the objective behind creation of these courts remained unachieved. On one side, these cases do not remain under the domain of Anti-Corruption Courts of Srinagar and Jammu and on the other side the newly designated courts could not take up the same.
This issue also became the part of ongoing Public Interest Litigation titled Sheikh Mohd Shafi Versus Union of India and Others, which pertains to the corruption cases against Government officers and officials.
For one complete year since the creation of these courts there was virtually no progress in providing vital organ to these courts as earlier there was no focus on this matter and later Home Department expressed its inability to spare Prosecuting Officers for these courts before the Division Bench of State High Court.
On the directions of High Court, the Government constituted a committee comprising Director Vigilance Organization, Secretary, Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Director Prosecution for making recommendations for the engagement of retired Chief Prosecuting Officers and Senior Prosecuting Officers etc on temporary basis against the sanctioned strength of 7 posts of Senior POs.
The Committee completed its task and paced its recommendations to the Government for issuance of orders vide Letter No.VO-Estt-02/14-11919 dated August 26, 2014. Again the matter was taken with slackness, which is evident from the fact that General Administration Department took more than one month for giving sanction to the engagement of seven retired officers as Public Prosecutors on contractual basis.
After inordinate delay of more than one year, Director Vigilance Organization, Sheikh Owais has issued an order regarding adjustment of retired officers engaged as Public Prosecutors for the courts of Additional District and Session Judges at Baramulla, Anantnag, Kathua, Udhampur, Pulwama, Doda and Rajouri.
Six of these Public Prosecutors have joined at their respective places while as Public Prosecutor for the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Udhampur has yet not joined and this has also been conveyed to the State High Court, whose efforts have finally led to providing of vital organ to these courts.
With the deployment of Public Prosecutors in these courts, adjudication of thousands of corruption cases, whose fate was hanging in balance during the past quite long time, would get impetus. Among these pending cases include those involving serving and retired senior bureaucrats of the State Government.
One such case pertains to Gulmarg land scam wherein challan has already been presented. In this case, IAS officer Baseer Ahmed Khan, the then Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla and presently Secretary, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department, is among the serving officers involved in this case.
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