A Division Bench of High Court of J&K and Ladakh (Jammu Wing) comprising the Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Puneet Gupta has directed the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to file the status report with regard to two CBI cases (FIRs) No. RCCHGO51201850006 and No.RCCHGO51201850007 pertaining to Arms Licenses Scam being investigated by CBI in which the CBI has sought prosecution sanction of IAS Officers allegedly involved in the scam. The Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh has directed the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to file the status report by or before July, 26, 2023.
These significant directions in Arms Licenses Scam were issued in the much publicized Public Interest Litigation (PIL No.9/2012) titled Sheikh Mohd. Shafi & Anr V/s Union of India & Ors in which the petitioners have highlighted the lackadaisical approach of the J&K Government in granting prosecution sanctions against tainted Bureaucrats involved in several scams including Arms Licenses Scam.
When this PIL came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan and Mohd Zulkarnain Chowdhary invited the attention of the Court towards the four compilations filed by Advocate General DC Raina and two status reports filed by ACB/GAD highlighting that as on date prosecution sanction is awaited in more than 35 FIRs and with regard to Arms Licenses Scam, the four compilations pointed out that in two FIRs pertaining to Arms Licenses Scam.
Advocate Shakeel Ahmed argued that DoPT, Govt. of India initially on June, 14, 2021 followed by reminders dated December, 31, 2021, May, 13, 2022, March, 24, 2023 and April, 17, 2023 wrote to the Chief Secretary, J&K contending therein that from the set of documents provided with the proposal the checklist under Single Window in terms of latest instructions contained in letter No.142/4/2012-AVD.I dated July, 28, 2014 has not been furnished alongwith the proposal for sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act and returned the same to the J&K Government to send a complete proposal with supporting documents through Single Window system.
Advocate General DC Raina assisted by Senior AAG S.S. Nanda and AAG Monika Kohli informed the Division Bench that the Government of J&K is serious in corruption matters and has speedily granted prosecution sanctions in corruption cases for the last 4-5 years. The Advocate General further submitted that with regard to two CBI FIRs pertaining to Arms Licenses Scam the Government of J&K is examining the matter as the Arms Licenses have been reportedly issued by the DMs to the Army Personnel and for this reason the issue is being examined.
