J&K High Court to decide on Roshni scam on March 18

SRINAGAR — The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday fixed March 18 as the next date of hearing for the infamous Roshni scam, to decide on transferring this land scandal to the CBI for further investigation.

As the departments concerned have failed to file their respective reports in the infamous Rs. 25,000-crore Roshni scam, the court indicated that it may transfer the investigation to the premier probing agency of the country.

The court also directed anti-graft bodies in J&K to file a status report in the scam.

In the last hearing held in February, the High Court had expressed shock over the manner in which those responsible for the encroachment of the erstwhile State land had become landowners due to the Roshni scheme.

Advocate Ankur Sharma, who had filed public interest litigation (PIL) against the Roshni Act, said that the reports sought by the court in its earlier order, dated February 02, 2020, from the Revenue Secretary, Education Secretary, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, PCCF and the DC Jammu were not filed.

Earlier, the Division Bench had directed the government to submit the list of all beneficiaries of the controversial Roshni scheme, already scrapped by the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by the then Governor Satya Pal Malik following complaints of large-scale bungling.

The court had directed the government to place on record the complete list of all persons who had been given benefits under the scheme.

Formulated with much publicity to give land ownership rights to the “deprived and marginalized” sections of society, the high and mighty allegedly took advantage of the controversial Roshni Scheme, which has been dubbed as the “biggest-ever land scam” in J&K by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

As per official documents placed on the floor of the Assembly, influential politicians are the beneficiaries of the Roshni Act and were offered propriety rights over illegally encroached State and Nazool land against fixed prices.