Today Justice Tashi Rabstan of Jammu and Kashmir High Court (Jammu Wing) in the open court directed Senior AAG W.S. Nargal appearing for Commissioner/Secretary to Govt. of J&K Home Department and Commissioner/Secretary to Govt. of J&K General Administration Department (GAD) to file their response within three weeks and also directed Senior AAG to keep the original record pertaining to enquiry conducted by the then SSP Jammu Atul Goel (IPS) whereby he had closed the complaint lodged by the petitioner seeking constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations leveled by Kewal Krishan Sharma on July, 26, 2013 in a press conference against the then Deputy Chief Minister, J&K Tara Chand wherein Kewal Sharma had alleged that the then Deputy Chief Minister is involved in murder of three persons, corruption, immorality and rape of two Jammu based girls and besides this Kewal Sharma had also alleged apprehension of elimination at the hands of the then Deputy Chief Minister. The Court further directed the Registry to list this petition for final disposal on December, 15, 2017.
When this much publicized writ petition filed by Bharat Bhushan seeking CBI probe into the matter came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina and Supriya Chouhan appearing for the petitioner drew the attention of the Court towards the last order dated September, 27, 2017 whereby the court had directed Senior AAG W.S. Nargal to comply the order dated July, 21, 2015 whereby Justice B.L. Bhat (since retired) had passed a detailed order issuing notices to Commissioner/Secretary to Govt. of J&K GAD, Commissioner/ Secretary to Govt. of J&K Home Department, Director General of Police J&K, Senior Superintendent of Police Jammu and Atul Goel (IPS) Former Senior Superintendent of Police Jammu and the Court had specifically directed the Director General of Police J&K and the SSP Jammu to produce the record relating to the enquiry conducted by then SSP Jammu Atul Goel (IPS) into the complaint lodged by the petitioner seeking constitution of a SIT for probing the allegations leveled against the then Deputy CM, J&K.
At this stage Senior AAG W.S. Nargal appearing for the Home /GAD submitted that the original enquiry file is with him and he can pass on the record to the Court. Advocate S.S. Ahmed appearing for the petitioner submitted that the matter is lingering since July, 2015 and it is in the interest of both the sides that this issue of wide public importance be decided without any further delay. Advocate Ahmed further submitted that since the original record is before the Court the matter needs to be finally considered as no more pleadings are required to be filed in the matter.
During the course of arguments Advocate S.S. Ahmed further submitted that the then SSP Jammu Atul Goel (IPS) conducted the enquiry in a biased manner as the same was directed against the then Deputy Chief Minister and just on the sole statement of Kewal Sharma the enquiry was closed. Advocate Ahmed further submitted that despite leveling of serious allegations by the Additional PRO against Deputy Chief Minister no action was taken against him and Kewal Sharma continued to serve in the personal section of the Deputy Chief Minister and he openly operated the ‘Transfer Industry’ in the Education Department.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further submitted that SSP Atul Goel (IPS) had provided undue security cover to Kewal Sharma on the verbal instructions of the then Deputy Chief Minister and the enquiry was a ‘fixed match’ and sought re-opening of the entire case. On the other hand Senior AAG W.S. Nargal appearing for the State Government submitted that only DGP J&K, SSP Jammu and then SSP Jammu Atul Goel (IPS) have filed their reply whereas looking into the importance of the matter replies of GAD/Home Department are required to be filed and he be granted some more time to submit the response on their behalf. Senior AAG W.S. Nargal further submitted that he should also be allowed to retain the original enquiry file as he may require the same while drafting the reply on behalf of Commissioner/Secretaries Home/GAD.
After considering the submissions of both the sides, Justice Tashi Rabstan directed Senior AAG W.S. Nargal to file reply within three weeks on behalf of Home/GAD Secretaries and also directed him to keep the original record pertaining to enquiry conducted by the then SSP Jammu Atul Goel (IPS) ready for the next date. The Court further directed the Registry to list this petition for final disposal on December, 15, 2017.