This north Kashmir lawyer has been a Congressman for some time but came to limelight when he was inducted as a minister during the reign of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
In the coalition friction between Congress and the PDP, Vakil was relatively much more vocal regardless of the quality of the argument. The present coalition government did not consider him for a ministerial berth and that created its own crisis.
Apart from engaging in protracted wars on the newspaper front-pages with NC’s Dr Mustafa Kamal over Congress’ historic role in J&K, Vakil, off late, would hit his colleagues within the Congress. This year he targeted Taj Mohi-ud-Din, state’s PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister for his attacks on governance and corruption. Taj is perhaps the only Congress minister who is very close to the Chief Minister and whose suggestions are being seriously taken by the government.
In January last, Vakil demanded sacking of Taj in the wake of allegations of corruption and land grabbing against him. As the crisis became a perpetual stuff for the newspaper front-pages, it started triggering yet another division in the faction-ridden Congress. At one point of time there were 21 Congressmen including lawmakesr and ministers who supported Vakil. Then another group of Congressman started issuing counter-statements in support of Taj.
It was during this crisis that Taj approached Chief Minister and sought permission to take Vakil to court. Since Vakil was a member of state’s upper houses and a former minister, the permission was to come from state law ministry. Taj also wrote in detail to the Congress High Command and latter on offered point by point response to the allegations as well.
At one point of time it was reported that the government has granted permission of prosecution but that was incorrect. Permission came last week when the law ministry issued a formal order granting sanction to Vakil’s prosecution for having levelled “defamatory allegations” against Taj. Law ministry issued a notification designating Choudary Mohammad Shabir, a Jammu based public prosecutor to make a formal complaint under section 500 RPC against Vakil before Sessions Judge, Jammu.
The decision came after Taj’s formal request that Vakil be prosecuted by invoking Section 198-B (for defaming public servants) of Code of Criminal Procedure. Prior to the issuance of the notice, the government studied the allegations against Taj for all these months and found them untrue. It was on this basis that SRO No 232 was issued on July 18 that accorded sanction to the prosecution. If convicted Vakil can be jailed for two years and fined as well.
