JAMMU: Former legislators of the 12th legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir availed departmental house building loans of ₹5.6 crore on nominal interest rate of 4%, according to the response to an RTI query filed by advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad.
The 12th legislative assembly fell on June 19, 2018, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parted ways from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
An “inadvertent piece of extra information” furnished in the official reply by assembly secretariat chief public information officer Qazi Mushtaq Ahmad disclosed that the loans ranged from ₹5 lakh to ₹20 lakh, and many of the legislators had delayed the repayments.
The house building advance were disbursed to the 49 members in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. According to the rules, the advance has to be liquidated by the beneficiaries within five years in 60 monthly instalments.
The official reply, a copy of which is with the HT, stated that out of 49 legislators, only Ali Mohammad Sagar and Zahoor Ahmad Mir have liquidated their house building advances of ₹5 lakh each.
Ahmad said that the list of beneficiaries had names of some wealthy politicians, including former chief ministers, former speaker of the assembly and ex-deputy chief minister.
However, J&K legislative assembly secretary Manoj Kumar Pandita claimed that the liquidation of the advances to the former legislators was being done through monthly pensions of the 49 former legislators by the accountant general’s office.
“Though I don’t have exact figures of liquidation, majority of them are repaying loans via their pension accounts, debited from their accounts by the AG’s office,” said Pandita.
He, however, feigned ignorance when asked about two previous governments that waived off such advances to the legislators in the past. The loan facility to the legislators was made possible under Section 10 of Salaries and Allowances of Members of the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature Act, 1960. However, the rules for housing loan to the legislators were made in 1988 and notified on September 22 that year.
Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party took to “X” to convey that party president Mehbooba Mufti had cleared all her dues on account of house building advance.
Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad has also been contesting a litigation of his client, SK Bhalla, before the high court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh pertaining to illegal retention of ministerial bungalows and government quarters by former legislators.Times
Source (Hindustan Times)