J-K SAC still to finish inquiry into 8 cases involving ex-mins

Jammu and Kashmir State Accountability Commission (SAC) has not finished inquiry into eight cases involving about 100 people including several former ministers even after nearly a decade after some of these cases were registered.
The Commission, constituted in 2002, has completed inquiry in five cases indicting 11 senior officers in the past 14 years, Law Minister Abdul Haq Khan said in a written reply in the Assembly here.
However, none of the indicted officers were sentenced as they have approached the state High Court and their writ petitions are pending for over a decade, the government said.
Besides, there are five cases which are at the preliminary inquiry or scrutiny stage, the particulars of which cannot be disclosed in terms of various sections of the Accountability Act, the government said.

Khan said the eight cases were still at the "regular stage of inquiry".
The former ministers who are facing inquiries in the SAC included former Congress minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Taj Mohiuddin, Manohar Lal Sharma and Mangat Ram Sharma who switched to PDP prior to the Assembly polls in 2014.

Other politicians facing inquiry include former PDP minister A G Sofi and former minister of National Conference Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, the government said.
Among the bureaucrats-turned-politicians, PDP's Asgar Ali (former director Rural Development Department) and Mehboob Iqbal (former Secretary Rural Development) and Congress leader Sayeed are among 54 people facing regular inquiry in a case registered in 2005, it said.

Former Chief Secretary and MLC Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, who also switched sides from National Conference to the PDP prior to the last Assembly polls, is named in a case registered in 2007, it said.
Two cases each were registered in 2006 and 2007, while one case each was registered in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the government said.
SAC has been constituted under Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Commission Act, 2002 to inquire complaints against ministers and members of the state Legislature whereas State Vigilance Commission is superintending the cases against the government employees.
"There is no proposal to include IAS and IPS officers within the ambit of the SAC," the government said.