The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has recently expressed concern over the delay in granting prosecution sanction in the arms license cases.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2012, complaining of irregularities in the issuance of arms licenses in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered two cases in connection with the same.
The investigation revealed that licensing authorities, including district magistrates, gun house dealers, and middlemen, had hatched a criminal conspiracy to issue arms licenses illegally in favour of ineligible persons by forging documents in lieu of monetary considerations.
Despite the CBI’s findings, the competent authorities, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, have not accorded sanction for prosecution of several influential bureaucrats.
The Jammu Division Bench of Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M A Chowdhary noted that prosecution sanction is being granted on a pick-and-choose basis, with big fishes still roaming free.
The court expressed concern over the delay in granting prosecution sanction, citing the example of Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, the then District Magistrate, Kupwara, against whom the CBI registered a case in 2008, but prosecution sanction is still pending.
The court granted one month’s time to the respondents to do the needful, failing which it would take coercive measures.
The matter has been listed for hearing on December 30, 2024.