Fazil Mir
New Delhi, Dec 1 (KNC): The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to all defendants in the civil defamation suit filed by former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, IAS (Retd.), over allegations relating to an alleged “Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam.”
Notices have been issued to retired IAS officer Ashok Kumar Parmar whose claims form the foundation of the dispute and other parties named in the suit.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav has sought responses from all defendants and listed the matter for February 3, when arguments on Dr. Mehta’s plea for an interim injunction will be heard.
Dr. Mehta has filed the suit through Advocates Vasudev Sharan Swain and Nar Hari Singh (AoR), seeking damages of ₹2.55 crore along with interim and permanent injunctions against the circulation of the alleged defamatory material.
According to the suit, the accusations of a “JJM scam” are entirely fabricated, malicious, and unsupported by any evidence. It alleges that a sustained effort was made to project a false narrative of large-scale corruption, causing serious damage to Dr. Mehta’s reputation as well as undermining public trust in the mission’s work in Jammu & Kashmir.
The plaint places strong reliance on the findings of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which conducted a detailed inquiry into the allegations. The ACB found no financial misappropriation, confirmed that tenders were allotted to the lowest eligible bidders through proper e-tendering, found no evidence of favouritism, and concluded that no loss was caused to the public exchequer. The inquiry was formally closed as “Not Substantiated.”
Further, the suit highlights that although it was publicly claimed that complaints had been filed before the CBI and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, RTI responses from both bodies confirmed that no such complaints had ever been received.
The allegations, the suit states, were based on letters that were drafted and circulated but never formally filed. It also refers to an earlier petition before the CAT (Jammu Bench), which was dismissed with costs of ₹1 lakh, with the Tribunal terming it “mischievous and frivolous,” intended only to harass senior officials.
The plaint points out that the alleged “scam amount” fluctuated drastically ₹1,000 crore, ₹3,000 crore, ₹4,000 crore, ₹6,000 crore, and even above ₹14,000 crore reflecting sensationalism rather than factual accuracy.
It adds that no material has been produced to show any personal gain and underscores that JJM operations in J&K are protected by strong digital safeguards such as BEAMS, online sanction systems, mandatory e-tendering, PaySyS, PROOF geo-tagged documentation, and multi-layered reconciliation mechanisms that create comprehensive audit trails.
On physical progress, the suit records that over 81% of JJM works in J&K were completed by June 2025 as per official and RTI data. It notes that across more than 3,780 village schemes, not a single instance was found where work remained unexecuted or procurement was done without competition, undercutting claims of widespread manipulation.
The suit also describes a pattern of selective leaks and coordinated dissemination of unverified allegations. It traces 26 letters circulated between 2022 and 2025 and more than 140 media publications that appeared to echo their content, forming what the plaint calls an “echo chamber” of misinformation presented as established fact.
According to the plaint, the narrative not only targeted Dr. Mehta personally but also attempted to erode public confidence in governance reforms and progress made under national missions such as JJM post the abrogation of Article 370.
Through the present suit, Dr. Mehta seeks protection of his professional reputation, preservation of JJM’s institutional credibility, and a firm legal response to the deliberate spread of false and sensational allegations. (KNC)
