The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has issued a directive to the Union Home Ministry to provide a status report and finalize the decision regarding the prosecution sanction of three IAS officers implicated in the notorious arms licence scam. The division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice MA Chowdhary, has set a new hearing date for March 20 to discuss the matter further.
The officers in question are Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Niraj Kumar, and Yasha Mudgal, all of whom served as district magistrates in Udhampur during the periods under investigation. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been probing allegations that between 2012 and 2016, nearly 1.53 lakh arms licenses were improperly issued in 10 districts of the Jammu division and about 1.21 lakh in 12 districts of the then Kashmir division, reportedly for monetary benefits.
This scrutiny follows a December 31 report by the CBI which prompted the J&K government to forward the prosecution sanction proposal for the three officers to the Home Ministry on December 27. Previously, the Home Ministry had approved the prosecution of Rajeev Ranjan, another implicated officer, indicating a progressive approach towards addressing the allegations.
The court’s latest directive was part of a public interest litigation (PIL) highlighting concerns over the alleged protective measures extended by the J&K government towards certain high-profile officers despite the CBI’s request for prosecution sanctions to file charges. Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, representing the petitioners, criticized the delay by both the Home Ministry and the J&K government in processing these sanctions, arguing that it was a deliberate hindrance.
The PIL calls attention to the broader implications of such delays, suggesting that they may undermine the integrity of public administration and justice. The plea also includes other officers such as Prasanna Ramaswamy G, M Raju, Jitendra Kumar Singh, and Ramesh Kumar, who have yet to face prosecution sanctions despite the CBI’s findings.
