Srinagar, Nov 06: The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has rejected an application by two IAS officers seeking intervention in the long-pending Arms Licences Scam PIL and a direction to the Centre to consider their representations before deciding on a proposal for grant of prosecution sanction against them.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dr Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Rajnesh Oswal observed that there was no justification for issuing such a direction, noting that the officers’ plea appeared to suggest that the authorities would not apply their minds properly without the court’s intervention.
The application was filed by Pandurang Kondbaroa Pole, a 2004-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer currently posted as Secretary, Land and Building, Government of NCT of Delhi, and Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, a 2009-batch AGMUT cadre officer presently posted as Secretary, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
The officers had sought impleadment in PIL No. 9/2012, titled Sheikh Mohd. Shafi and Another versus Union of India and Others. They had also sought a direction to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to consider their representations before taking a decision on the CBI’s proposal for grant of prosecution sanction.
Appearing for the officers, Senior Advocate Sakal Bhushan, assisted by Advocate Rahul Sharma, argued that the doctrine of deemed sanction could not be applied mechanically and that the matter required a case-specific assessment by the competent authorities and the court.
He submitted that the officers were only seeking consideration of their representations before a decision was taken on the prosecution sanction proposal.
The Bench, however, declined to grant the relief sought.
“The reason why this Court has not accepted the application is that merely the gist of the submission made by learned Senior counsel was that unless the Court directs there will not be proper application of mind by the respondents, which does not seem to find any favour of the Court,” the Bench observed.
Bhushan subsequently sought permission to withdraw the application and pursue the representations before the DoPT. The court accordingly dismissed the application as withdrawn, observing that the officers did not require its permission to pursue appropriate remedies available under law.
During the hearing, Advocate S.S. Ahmed, appearing for the PIL petitioners, informed the court that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had submitted an updated status report in compliance with its July 6, 2026 order.
According to Ahmed, the MHA had stated that, following detailed examination and consultations with the investigating agency and the Jammu and Kashmir Government, it had finalised its views and comments on the proposal and forwarded its considered opinion to the DoPT for a final decision under the prescribed procedure.
Ahmed sought a direction to the DoPT to place its final decision before the court.
Taking note of the submission, the Division Bench directed Deputy Solicitor General of India Vishal Sharma, appearing for the Union Government, to submit a comprehensive report detailing compliance with the court’s orders passed from time to time.
The PIL has been listed for further hearing on December 23, 2026.
