A Jammu additional sessions judge (anti-corruption) ordered the J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau, on Wednesday, to submit the status report into the allegations of Rs 500 crore to Rs 700 crore scam in implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Scheme in the Union territory by September 30.

The complaint was initially lodged on October 10, 2022, before the CBI by senior advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, but the central probing agency transferred it to the ACB on April 19, 2023.

Advertisement

During the last hearing, the court had directed the ACB to submit the status report by or before September 26. However, the court during Wednesday’s hearing gave three days’ time for this purpose when the assistant public prosecutor (APP) pleaded that he is yet to receive the status report from the ACB headquarters, and he be allowed more time to comply with the court’s orders.

On the other hand, advocate Ahmed, who is the complainant, resisted the APP’s request and submitted that the ACB was taking the matter casually. He urged the court that a time-bound direction be issued to the ACB so that the status of the scam is known to everyone.

In his application, Ahmed had submitted to the court that after getting RTI inputs from the J&K State Health Agency (SHA) and J&K Health & Medical Education Department, it has been established prima facie that a scam of Rs 500–700 crore had taken place in the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Scheme in the UT. Ahmed then lodged a comprehensive complaint October 10 last year to the CBI director seeking registration of an FIR in the alleged scam.

However, the CBI did nothing in the matter and did not convey the outcome of the complaint to the whistleblower. On February 7, Ahmed filed an application before the special judge, anti-corruption (CBI cases), Jammu, in which he sought directions to the CBI to submit the status of the complaint.

During the last hearing, Ahmed had submitted that the ACB is under a legal obligation to share the outcome of the inquiry with the complainant within seven days as held by the Supreme Court of India in a case titled Lalita Kumari vs Government of UP & Others. In that case, the Supreme Court had directed that the applicant/complainant must be informed about the outcome of the preliminary inquiry within seven days.