Jammu, Mar 20 (KNO): Stating that a person cannot be punished for crimes of his relatives, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) would be asked to adhere to the recent High Court ruling on verification process.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly during grants of departments headed by him, Omar Abdullah said verification process cannot be used a weapon.
“When we prevent anyone from getting a job on the basis of CID verification, it means we are using it as weapon. It is not the job of CID to be used as a weapon,” he said, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
Omar said the High Court rightly held in February this year that a person cannot be held punished for crimes of his relatives.
“There is no law anywhere in the world that you will punish a son for the crimes of his father. There is a principle: B cannot be punished for crimes of A,” he said.
Omar said that CID would be asked be adhere to the High Court order on verification process.
In February this year, the HC held ruled that a criminal family background cannot serve as a valid reason for denying a passport application.
The CM said all pending cases of SRO- 43 would be cleared on urgent basis.
Omar also announced amnesty scheme for consumers of Power Development Department but added that there would be some changes in it.
“I believe that we need to bring some changes in it. Our intention shouldn’t be to give amnesty again and again. Aren’t we punishing those who pay bills?” Omar asked.
Have to bring Roshini scheme again
Stating that there is a need to bring back Roshini Scheme, Omar government couldn’t defend it in High Court due to amendments made in it during Ghulam Nabi Azad-led government.
No pick-and-choose policy in advertisements
Omar said that there would be no pick-and-choose policy in releasing advertisements to newspapers.
“There are grievances that pick-and-choose policy in used in releasing advertisements to newspapers. I want to assure the House that there would no discrimination or pick-and-choose policy in advertisements and they would be distributed in a transparent manner,” he said, adding that a newspaper surviving only on government advertisements cannot do job of a newspaper.
He said he wants to assure media that nobody would be punished for speaking truth.“You should highlight our mistakes and make people aware about faults,” he said,
He however, added that they will not tolerate fake news.
Omar said that there should be only one press club in Kashmir and mediapersons would be asked to conduct elections to form its managing committee—(KNO)