3000 fake PRC cases pending for disposal

Govt. not cooperating with commission to take action against non-state subjects living in J&K

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, June 29: Despite tall claims made by government for checking the settlement of non-state subjects in Jammu and Kashmir, who are using fake Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) to settle in the state, government itself is not cooperating with the commission constituted to look into the issue.

Sources said that nearly 3000 cases of fake PRC are pending for action with the commission as the government is not providing required data. Sources claimed that as most of them are big businessman and possible vote bank for many politicians, the process of identification is being slowed down deliberately.

Sources said that in the absence of required cooperation and assistance from the official machinery during the past several years, the Commission, which was constituted by the then State Government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah after the fake PRCs issue figured in the Legislative Assembly, is finding it difficult to meet the objectives with which it was set-up.

The intention of the government can be gauged by the fact that the commission does not have required staff and infrastructure and it is not being given required help by various departments, thus turning it into a toothless tiger.

The non-cooperation from the Government to the Commission doesn't stop at manpower only as respective Deputy Commissioners, who are the Permanent Resident Certificates issuance authority, are not strictly following the directives about providing whatever information the Commission requires in order to dispose of the cases challenging the PRCs, sources disclosed.

 "Even those cases wherein the Commission reached to the final conclusion and made necessary recommendations like seizure of the property, could not reach logical conclusion because the recommendations of the Commission got challenged in the courts of law and nobody from the Government dared to vigorously pursue the same", sources said.