Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir's dubious distinction of being the second most corrupt state in the country was to get a transformation under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's leadership. Instead in what can only be described institutional patronage of corruption within Omar's own Cabinet, his Revenue Minster Raman Bhalla has has issued a political diktat to the state Vigilance Organization to close down criminal investigations into a land scam - A case even upheld by the High Court.
A letter written by J&K revenue minister Raman Bhalla to the state Vigilance organization, brazenly asking the department to close a corruption and land grab case against senior bureaucrats and land mafia, the Minister in his written missive, which NDTV has exclusive access to, has asked the anti-corruption body: Close the case. It hampers our work.
Last year, the State Vigilance Organization nailed a major land scam in the famous tourist resort Gulmarg, exposing a nexus between powerful land mafia and top bureaucrats in the state. Ironically, the political directive has come even after the J&K High Court upheld the Vigilance investigation that was challenged by the accused.
Top IAS officer Mehboob Iqbal and around a dozen bureaucrats are accused of abusing their official position and illegally transferring prime land belonging to Tourism Department.
The minister however defends his actions.
NDTV: You have written the letter to Vigilance. Was that right?
Raman Bala (Minister for Revenue J&K): No, I was only trying to clear that we should know the information about the title of the land and its status. It was only about to know the information."
While Omar Abdullah refused to comment, legal experts say the Minister's directive is illegal and an example of clear interference in criminal investigations.
Moulvi Ajaz (lawyer): "Since you say, that the petition has been dismissed seeking quashment of the FIR and court has permitted the investigation, such an act is also inherently contemptuous."
The question is now whether the government will be able to restore the public trust that it can provide a clean administration in a state that need's it desperately.