JK Acctt Comm indicts PDP MLC in corruption case

Srinagar, Mar 30 (UNI) A top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and the Member Legislative Council (MLC) has been indicted by the Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Commission in a corruption case after charges were proved against him.

An Accountability Commission spokesman said Sonaullah Mir, a PDP worker, had lodged a complaint against his own party leader Mohammad Sultan Ganai alias Panditpuri, an ex-legislator from Langate constituency in Kupwara district.

Mir alleged that MLC Panditpuri had managed government jobs for the two sons of Ghulam Ahmad Lone, another PDP member, he added.

The complainant said he was allured and impressed by the MLC's influence and as such approached him to arrange government jobs for his sons and the son-in-law, the spokesman said.

He said the MLC had allegedly demanded Rs 60,000 for arranging the employment in the police department. The bribe money was paid to Panditpuri in presence of Pir Saif-ud-Din and Haji Ghulam Ahmed War, both PDP members, at his residence in Baramulla.

However, the MLC could not arrange the job and later did not return the bribe money of Rs 60,000 to the complainant.

The spokesman said the Accountability Commission has held as proved the allegations against the MLC and recommended to the state Governor to take appropriate action against him.

It was established that Panditpuri had helped Lone's two sons and the nephew in getting jobs in the state Public Health Engineering department, which prompted the complainant to pay Rs 60,000 to the MLC for arranging the jobs for his sons and the son-in-law and that too without going through the cumbersome selection process.

''The acts of the respondent (MLC), which are the basis of the present complaint, amount to the allegations as defined under section 2(3) and 2(7) (corruption, favouritism, nepotism, misuse of power) of Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Commission Act, 2002,'' the spokesman said.

''The respondent (Panditpuri) has been at the relevant time and is at the present time also a public functionary, as defined in sub section (16) of section 2 of the Act. All the allegations made in the complaint have been proved to the satisfaction of the Accountability Commission,'' he added.

UNI