J-K SVO concludes probe into Roshni scam

Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance Organisation, probing the 2013 Roshni scam, today concluded that officials of revenue department had committed "gross violations" in transfer of land under the scheme, causing huge loss to the public exchequer.
"The investigation in the five cases related to Roshni scam has been concluded and submitted to State Vigilance Commission (SVC)... Voluminous revenue record was seized and then scrutinised with the help of revenue experts during the investigation," a spokesman of the SVO said.
SVO had constituted four Special Investigation Teams (SITs), each headed by the SSPs in December last year to probe into the alleged irregularities committed in transfer of proprietary rights of state land under Roshni scheme and consequent loss to the public Exchequer.

Five FIRs -- three in police station vigilance of Kashmir and two in Jammu -- were registered in this connection. A nodal supervisory team, headed by DIG, Vigilance, was also constituted at the headquarters level, he said.
For the investigation of the cases, the SITs worked on war footing and were able to work out the cases where "gross violations" have been detected, the spokesman said.
"The ceases have been proved against the officials concerned of revenue department and undue benefits have been imparted to the beneficiaries, despite of various hindrances like non availability of sufficient revenue experts with the Vigilance Organisation and non co-operations of suspect department," the spokesman said.

However, the spokesman did not reveal the number of officials involved in the scam.

The Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, or the Roshni Act, was enacted by the Farooq Abdullah-led NC government and came into effect on March 1, 2002. However, it was amended by successive Mufti Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad governments in 2004 and 2007.
The scheme was meant to raise nearly Rs 25,448 crore to finance power projects by selling over 20.64 lakh kanals of state land under unauthorised occupation.
The CAG had alleged irregularities in transfer of encroached land to occupants in the state from 2007 to 2013, saying the state government realised just Rs 76 crore against a target of Rs 25,448 crore.