Jammu: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has expressed strong displeasure over the appointment of an IAS officer facing prosecution in the arms licences scam to a key government position.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M.A. Chowdhary questioned the J&K administration for appointing M. Raju (IAS) as Commissioner/Secretary of the General Administration Department (GAD) despite the CBI seeking prosecution sanction against him.
During the hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, representing the petitioners, informed the court that the GAD had been sending incomplete prosecution proposals to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India, thereby delaying action against the accused IAS officers.
The Chief Justice, visibly upset, asked the government’s counsel whether J&K lacked honest and upright officers for the post.
The CBI charge-sheet includes the names of IAS officers Yasha Mudgal, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, and Niraj Kumar, for whom prosecution sanction proposals were sent to MHA on December 27, 2024.
However, MHA, in a report submitted on March 11, 2025, pointed out deficiencies in the proposals and asked J&K to furnish complete documents within a week.
Meanwhile, the MHA has also sought prosecution sanction for M. Raju (IAS) and Prasanna Ramaswamy G (IAS) from the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.
Advocate Ahmed accused the J&K administration of shielding high-profile bureaucrats, arguing that while prosecution sanctions for JKAS officers were granted in 2021, leading to multiple charge-sheets, efforts were being made to delay action against IAS officers.
Taking serious note of the delays, the Division Bench directed the J&K administration to file an Action Taken Report on the MHA’s communication dated February 21, 2025, and asked the CBI to submit its latest status report before the next hearing.
The court has scheduled the final hearing of the case for April 24, 2025, and ordered both sides to complete their pleadings before that date. (KNT)
