New Delhi, Aug 17: The Supreme Courtroom on Monday requested the Jammu and Kashmir administration to pay compensation and rents to one of many descendants of farmers whose land was forcibly taken greater than 73 years in the past for establishing a police station at Kangan in Ganderbal with none acquisition proceedings.
Land measuring seven kanals and 18 marlas at Kangan was forcibly taken over for developing a police station means again in 1953 with out buying it and with out paying the compensation.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took observe of the plea of 1 Abdul Rashid Wani who approached the highest court docket by lawyer Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki to problem the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Excessive Courtroom’s 2022 choice.
The excessive court docket had dismissed a writ petition in search of possession of land taken over for a police station in Ganderbal district in 1953, holding that the declare suffered from gross and unexplained delay of 68 years.
On Monday, the highest court docket thought of the fervent pleas of Wani that although there was a delay, he shouldn’t undergo on account of state motion which was unlawful.
The apex court docket stated it can not direct contemporary land acquisition proceedings as on date because of the delay of practically seven many years.
The bench, nonetheless, stated that it’s going to direct the land acquisition officer to start the land acquisition proceedings from the date Wani approached the excessive court docket in 2021.
Coming to the rescue of Wani, the bench directed the land acquisition officer to calculate and award the leases to Wani from 1953 when the land was forcibly taken over for establishing of the police station.
The quantity on account of land acquisition and the leases will likely be lastly determined by the excessive court docket, the bench stated.
On June 28, 2022, a division bench of the excessive court docket had declined to train its extraordinary jurisdiction within the matter, saying that the petitioner couldn’t be permitted to revive what had successfully develop into a “useless reason behind motion” after such a chronic interval.
Wani had claimed that his predecessors have been homeowners of seven kanals and 18 marlas of land bearing survey no. 525 at Mouza Kangan in Ganderbal district.
In accordance with the petition, the land was taken over for a police station in 1953 with out formal acquisition or fee of compensation.
He sought both restoration of possession or initiation of acquisition proceedings and fee of compensation or rental compensation for the use and occupation of the land since 1953.
The excessive court docket famous that the alleged takeover had occurred about 68 years earlier than the submitting of the petition and that the petitioner, round 42 years outdated, had not defined why the matter was introduced earlier than the court docket after such an inordinate delay.
The petitioner had argued that his father was illiterate and subsequently couldn’t method the court docket earlier.
The excessive court docket, nonetheless, didn’t settle for the reason, noting that the petitioner himself had attained maturity greater than twenty years earlier however had nonetheless failed to hunt authorized redress.
The excessive court docket had additionally famous that the petitioner claimed to have approached the authorities throughout the previous 20 years however was unable to supply any supporting paperwork, citing the destruction of presidency data throughout the 2014 floods.
The UT administration had opposed the petition as extremely belated, stating that the police division had remained in peaceable possession of the land since 1953 and that, after such a protracted interval, it was tough to supply data regarding the property.
“Each reason behind motion ought to come to an finish inside a time sure interval and shouldn’t be allowed to stay alive infinitely,” the excessive court docket had stated.
