Cong Minister defends Azad Govt on 'violation' of Roshni Act

A Congress minister today defended the former Ghulam Nabi Azad government in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of CAG's disclosure that it framed rules in violation of the Roshni Act to cause a Rs 25,000 crore land-transfer scam.
Hitting out at the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Congress leader and Minister of State for Revenue Ajaz Ahmed Khan said its report, which forms the basis of the allegations, was "speculative".
"I felt that somewhere the report is wrong. It is based on presumption and speculation," Khan said during a press conference here.
"The (CAG) report should... Should have been based on facts. The Public Accounts Committee would deliberate on it and then it will come to us (and we will) see what we can do," Khan alleged.

He added that the State Vigilance Organisation had already started a probe into the matter and the J-K government would cooperate with the same.
Agreeing with charges that massive land transfers to encroachers under the Roshni Act was possibly the "biggest scam" in Jammu and Kashmir, the state's Principal Accountant General Subash Chandra Pandey had yesterday indicted the Azad government of 2007 for making rules in violation of the law.
"The state government had estimated (the value of) such land at Rs 25,000 crore in 2006. You can think of the value of this land today.