JAMMU: The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh high court has expressed strong displeasure over the appointment of an IAS officer against whom CBI has sought prosecution sanction in the arms licences scam case as the commissioner/secretary of the General Administration Department (GAD).
Questioning the appointment of M Raju, whose name figures in the CBI chargesheet in the case, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M A Chowdhary asked, “Is there dearth of honest/upright IAS officers in J&K?”
The bench told additional advocate general (AAG) Raman Sharma, who appeared for GAD, that the commissioner/secretary should be immediately removed.
During the hearing, advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, representing the petitioners, submitted that GAD was deliberately sending incomplete proposals to ministry of home affairs (MHA) and department of personnel and training (DoPT) for prosecution sanction against some high-profile bureaucrats in a bid to shield them.
MHA had earlier this month pointed out deficiencies in the proposals sent by J&K administration on Dec 27, 2024, seeking prosecution sanction against three IAS officers — Yasha Mudgal, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and Neeraj Kumar — and had asked the UT to furnish complete documents within a week.
Earlier, in a communication to the J&K chief secretary on Feb 12, MHA had said the proposals for grant of prosecution sanction against M Raju (posted as Kargil DM at the time of committing the alleged irregularities) and Prasanna Ramaswamy G (former Leh DM) might be forwarded to the ministry with the administrative approval of the Ladakh LG.
Taking serious note of the delays, the bench directed the J&K administration to file an action taken report on MHA’s communication dated Feb 12, and alsoordered CBI to file a status report before the next date of hearing.
The HC scheduled the final hearing in the gun licences scam case for April 24, and directed both sides to complete their pleadings before that.