On 14th September 2020, Justice Sanjay Dhar heard the case of Mst. Haleema And Others vs State Of J&K & Ors, via video-conferencing. In the absence of the record of the charge sheet, the Court could not adjudicate upon the present case. Therefore, it directed the petitioners to approach the trial court again.
Facts of the Case
The Central Government introduced a scheme called “Jawahar Rozgar Yojna” for the creation of assets in the rural areas of the erstwhile state of J&K. The Rural Development Department of the Government was entrusted with its implementation. The officers and the officials of the same misused their position to swindle huge amounts. Therefore, various cases were registered by the Vigilance Organization, Kashmir which led to the presenting of a challan before the Special Judge Court for Anti-corruption. During the investigation, certain bank accounts were frozen. On 21st September 1993, the learned Special Judge, Anti-corruption passed a restraint order against the contemplated disbursement of amounts. Some of the accused succeeded in getting the amount released by virtue of various orders passed by the learned Special Judge, Anticorruption. Further, these orders were challenged before this Court by virtue of nineteen separate Revision Petitions.
This Court allowed these petitions on 20th October 2000 and set aside the order of the learned Special Judge, Anticorruption. Furthermore, it directed the learned Special Judge to reconsider the matter in the light of material collected by the Vigilance Organization. On 16th June 2009, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Anti-corruption considered the matter. The judge dismissed the petitioners’ applications in the order. It is this order which has been challenged by the petitioners through the medium of the instant petition.
Arguments of the Petitioners
The learned counsel for the petitioners argued that nothing incriminating has been brought on record. Thus, nothing would disentitle the petitioners from claiming the amount of FDRs belonging to the petitioners. It is further contended that the amount sought to be released is not remotely connected with the embezzled amount.
Court’s Analysis
It is noted that the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Anticorruption, Srinagar declined to release the amount in favour of the petitioners. This was on the ground that some of the petitioners are accused in the main/supplementary challan. On the other hand, some others figure in the annexures to the supplementary challan which contains the list of non- existent persons. The parties placed a record before this record. However, it does not reveal the particulars and details of the persons figuring in the annexures to the supplementary challan. Further, it does not reveal the particulars of the persons falling in the list of accused in the main challan and the supplementary challan. For deciding the controversies raised, the record of the charge sheet placed before the learned trial court needs to be examined. However, the summoning of the record for disposal of the instant petition will lead to a delay in the progress of the trial. In these circumstances, the only option available with the Court is to give liberty to the petitioners to approach the trial court once again for the release of the seized amounts.
Court’s Decision
The Court directed the petitioners to approach the trial court for seeking the release of payment orders/CDRs/FDRs. Further, the trial court shall be at liberty to take a view in the matter on its own merits in view of the change of circumstances, if any, without getting influenced by the impugned order.
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