SRINAGAR: The Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, comprising Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice MA Chowdhary, has instructed the government to file an updated status report on the involvement of five IAS officers and others in the widely-publicised Arms Licence Scam.
The court, hearing via virtual mode from its Jammu Bench, ordered Advocate Sumant Sudan, representing the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), to provide details concerning comments sent by the J&K General Administration Department (GAD) on December 27, 2024 regarding the implicated officers.
The investigation centres on several IAS and JKAS officers, including Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Niraj Kumar, Yasha Mudgal, Prasanna Ramaswamy G., M. Raju, Fida Hussain, Jitendra Kumar Singh, Faqir Chand Bhagat, Hemant Kumar Sharma, and Shabir Ahmad Butt.
During the hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, representing the petitioners, argued that the J&K government was shielding high-profile bureaucrats. He accused the government of delaying prosecution sanctions despite repeated communications from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Ahmed noted that two FIRs—RCCHGO51201850006 and RCCHGO51201850007—registered in October 2018, were thoroughly investigated by the CBI, with findings implicating several bureaucrats.
Advocate Ahmed pointed out that, despite the Supreme Court’s directive in Dr Subramanian Swamy v. Dr Manmohan Singh (2012) setting a two-month timeline for granting or refusing prosecution sanctions in corruption cases, the J&K government has failed to act. He urged the court to direct the GAD to forward prosecution proposals to the MHA and DoPT without delay.
Citing a precedent, Ahmed referred to an August 2012 Division Bench order mandating timely prosecution sanctions in the Gulmarg Land Scam case. He argued that similar action was needed to uphold public faith in the rule of law.
AAG Raman Sharma, representing the J&K government, informed the court that a status report had been submitted to the Registry on December 27, 2024. However, the report was not presented in court. A copy of the report was later supplied during the hearing and taken on record.
The court observed that while prosecution sanction had been granted for Rajeev Ranjan, the then District Magistrate, Kupwara, on November 28, 2024, the status of other officers remains pending. The GAD had forwarded its comments on the remaining officers to the MHA on December 27, 2024.
The Division Bench granted Advocate Ahmed time to respond to the status report and scheduled the next hearing for February 13, 2025. (ANB)
