Jammu, Nov 04: Jammu and Kashmir High Court has issued show-cause notices to the Centre and the state government, some Members of Parliament and former legislators in connection with alleged misappropriation of constituency development funds in the state. Acting on a public interest litigation, the division bench of the high court issued notices to MPs and former legislators yesterday asking why the PIL should not be admitted and listed before it for hearing.

The bench also allowed the petitioner's plea that Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Central Bureau of Investigation be made respondents alongwith 30 other respondents comprising high profile politicians and top officers.

Prominent among those who have been issued notices, include Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief and MP, Ghulam Nabi Azad, fromer MP Sharief-Udin-Sharik, Abdul Aziz Wani, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Abdul Rasheed Zargar, Qazi Jalal-u-Din, Ghulam Hassan Bhat, Moulvi R Akhoon, Firdaus Baba, Farooq Mir, C L Khajuria, Ram Pal, Bimla Lothra, Zubaida Salaria, Veer Chand Mahasha, S M Gill, and Dipender Kour (all former legislators and ministers) besides MLAs Sajjad Kitchloo and Tanvir Ahmed.



The petition points towards a scam related to alleged misappropriation and misutilisation of funds by MPs, MLAs and MLCs amounting to more that Rs one crore for the years 1991-2000 and 2000-01.
Bureau Report