JAMMU: Aam Aadmi Party’s Senior leader and State Spokesperson, Advocate Appu Singh Slathia, vociferously stated in her press conference that the prosecution sanction sought by the CBI in the ‘ARMS LICENSE CASE’ against some prominent IAS and KAS officers, should be given the proper impetus it deserves by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
Furthermore, she stated that as per the Right to Information requested by a leading news portal, Union Territory of J&K and the State of Uttar Pradesh are leading when it comes to licensed gun holders and also the number of gun licenses issued in the country. Moreover, the 10 states and UTs which saw the most number of gun licenses issued in the period between 2016 and 2023 are J&K, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland.
It is pertinent to note that in Jammu and Kashmir, a ban on the issuance of arms licenses was imposed in 2018 and it was further lifted in 2023. This ban was put in place following a gun license racket that came to light during the investigation conducted by the Rajasthan Police’s Anti Terror Squad (ATS). It is pivotal to note that the investigation revealed the involvement of public officials, particularly some IAS and KAS officers. Despite this, the erstwhile State which the Union territory made into a Union Territory in August 2019, was leading the country in the number of gun licenses issued in the period between 2016 and 2023 – 1,30,914. Notably with the ban in place, licenses were only issued between 2016 to 2018 and then from January 2023 till June 2023. As per the details, the total number of gun license holders in the UT as per 2023 stand at 5,00,105 compared to the last available data from December 2016, which indicated 3,69,191 license holders.
Miss Slathia added that in October 2020, the Deccan Herald had quoted and stated that 22,805 fresh arms licenses had been issued across the country between 2018 and September 15, 2020 and 17,905 were issued in J&K, which accounted for 78.51 % of the licenses. THIS FIGURE WAS INSPITE OF THE BAN! She questioned the LG administration as to how it could explain the significant rise in the issuance of gun licenses in the UT, despite of a ban of almost five years.
Furthermore, she added that lest did Mohd. Sheikh Shafi, Professor SK Bhalla and Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad know that their crusade against corrupt IAS and KAS officers, who were booked by the State Vigilance Organisation, J&K, would lead them to a new cesspool of corruption in the shape of the ARMS LICENSE SCAM. She added that in the year 2012, the above-mentioned petitioners decided to obtain information with respect to IAS/KAS officers of Jammu and Kashmir, who have been booked in corruption cases in the last one decade; against whom the cases have been established but sanction is awaited as under Section 6 of the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act 2006. Keeping into consideration the same, a PIL no. 9/ 2012 was filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, requesting the Hon’ble Court to command the SVO to file charge sheet against the accused in view of the deemed sanction for prosecution as per the law laid down on 31.01.2021 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Dr. Subramanian Swamy v. Dr. Manmohan Singh and another.
The senior leader of the AAP in J&K, in order to explicitly bolster the fact that the there has been laxity on the part of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, put forth some important points from the ‘Status Report of the Central Bureau of Investigation’, that was submitted before the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 15.10.2024. She quoted certain below-mentioned facts from the above-mentioned STATUS REPORT OF THE CBI:
• That the Arms license scam got busted in the year 2017.
• That on 11th of May 2018, the J&K Home Department forwarded a report for investigation into the alleged irregularities regarding the issuance and renewal of the arms licenses by the licensing authorities.
• That initially the FIR was registered by the State Vigilance Organisation Kashmir and State Vigilance Organisation Jammu.
• That the cases were further transferred to the CBI and re-registered by the CBI, SCB Chandigarh in pursuance of the DoPT notification no. 228/41/2018 –AVD-II dated: 5.10.2018 u/s 5(1) of DSPE Act r/w Section 6 of DSPE Act 1946 along with the consent of the Home Department of the then State Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
• That CBI was impleaded as a party in PIL no. 9/2012 on 5.09.2024.
• That the investigation revealed that during the period of 2012 – 2016, approximately 1.53 lakh arms licenses were issued in 10 districts of Jammu division; approximately 1.21 lakh arms licenses were issued in 12 districts of Kashmir division and out of them 95% licenses were issued to Armed Forces/para military personnel serving in different parts of the country.
• That the CBI explicitly stated the modus operandi of the scam that included: Deputy Commissioners, gun house dealers, middlemen, clerks. Furthermore, the issuance of the licenses was done without any stringent jurisdiction parameter; with no police verification and all in the name of the monetary consideration.
• The CBI also mentioned that it had established the criminality of 39 IAS/KAS officers; show cause notices (SCN) were served to 71 gun house dealers; 13 charge sheets filed and 15 CBI reports seeking prosecution sanction were submitted to the concerned Government.
• In Annexure – I – PENDING PROSECUTION SANCTION IN THE ARMS LICENSES CASES, which was attached to the ‘Status Report of the CBI’, names of some prominent IAS officers were mentioned. They are as follows: Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Shri. Niraj Kumar, Smt. Yasha Mudgal, Shri. Pandurang K Pole, Sh. Jitender Kumar, Shri. G Prasannaswamy, Shri. Ramesh Kumar, Shri Rajeev Ranjan and Shri. M Raju.
• The above-mentioned annexure mentioned 12 districts; 15 CBI reports; names of 13 IAS and 3 KAS officers and 11 Judicial clerks.
Miss Singh emphatically stated that there has been immense laxity on behalf of the General Administration Department (GAD) J&K and requested the esteemed Lt. Governor to take note of the below mentioned facts:
• That the prosecution sanction has been issued with respect to Mr. Rajeev Ranjan IAS on 28.11.2024 but is still pending against many IAS officers and the government is trying to shield them as much as they can.
• That despite of the fact that the Hon’ble Supreme Court has laid down in plethora of judgments that tainted public servants should not be holding plum positions, the below –mentioned IAS officers continue to hold prime positions (Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary – Commissioner Secretary Science and Technology with the additional charge of Civil Aviation; Shri. Niraj Kumar – Administrative Secretary Public Grievances Department; Smt. Yasha Mudgal – Commissioner Secretary Tourism; Shri. Pandurang K Pole – plum position in Delhi; Shri. G Prasannaswamy – Secretary Tribal Affairs and Shri. M Raju – Commissioner Secretary GAD).
• That the prior sanction clause is being misused and delay tactics in the form of the accused resorting to representations is being use. Moreover, the Hon’ble Court in its order dated: 28.08.2012 clearly mentioned that a grant or refusal of sanction is not a quasi-judicial function and the person whose sanction is sought is not required to be heard.
• That the Hon’ble High Court in its order dated: 28.12.2020 has called the ‘Status Report of the GAD’ as sketchy and confusing.
• That the Hon’ble High Court in its order dated: 21.11.2024 has called the policy of the government ‘pick and choose policy’, where separate parameters are for the KAS officers, where sanction has been given for their prosecution on 9.04.201 but the prosecution sanction is still pending with respect to the IAS officers.
• That unnecessary correspondence is being made with the CBI and the Law Department of J&K by the GAD, in order to delay the prosecution in the arms license scam.
• That it is appalling to see the way GAD withdrew its ‘Status Report dated: 5.12.2023’ and replaced it with another one on 20.12.2023. Moreover, the new report makes it clear that the IAS officers are being shielded.
• That it is clear that there is a delay on the part of the GAD as:
o The GAD in their status report dated: 27.12.2024, vividly stated that MHA advised Govt of J&K that all pending proposals concerning the initiation of disciplinary proceedings, suspension or prosecution of IAS has been forwarded for final decision.
o That many communications have been sent to the Chief Secretary of J&K by DoPT (14.06.21; 31.12.2021; 13.05.2022; 24.03.2023 and 17.04.2024) clearly requesting the them to send a complete proposal with all the supporting documents through single window system for the prosecution.
o The DoPT has also stated that no proposal for sanctioning of prosecution is pending with them.
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