Jammu & Kashmir High Court
Daulat Ram And Others vs State Of J&K And Others on 11 April, 2022
Bench: Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Rahul Bharti
Sr. No.20
HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
AT JAMMU
OWP No. 209/2014
IA No. 99001/2015
[D-462/2015]
IA No. 248/2014
Daulat Ram and others .....Appellant(s)/Petitioner(s)
Through: Mr. P. N. Bhat, Advocate
Vs
State of J&K and others ..... Respondent(s)
Through: Mr. Vishal Sharma, ASGI
Mr. S. S. Nanda, Sr. AAG
Mr. Ravinder Gupta, AAG
Coram: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR, JUDGE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAHUL BHARTI, JUDGE
ORDER
11.04.2022 OPEN COURT Per: Thakur-J
01. Somewhere in the year 1974, land of the petitioners measuring 04 kanals approximately came to be acquired by virtue of notification issued by the Revenue Department for purposes of constructing a link road, namely, Kishtwar - Sinthan link road. It appears that the project was undertaken for widening of the said road and this time the indenting department was GREF. A notification thereafter was issued by the Revenue Authorities in the year 1998 for widening of the road. Land of the landholders which came in the widening process become the subject matter of acquisition and compensation was paid through the Revenue Department at the behest of the GREF.
02. The case set up by the petitioners is that in the process of widening undertaken by the GREF, a lot of debris including stones and 2 OWP No. 209/2014 boulders came to be dumped over the land of the petitioners, which rendered the said land totally uncultivable and useless.
In the aforementioned backdrop, the present petition has been filed seeking a direction to the official respondents for removal of the debris as also payment of compensation to the tune of Rs. 2 lacs for the damages caused to the residential houses and the agricultural land. Compensation @ Rs. 5,000/- per kanal on account of the accumulation of debris is also claimed in the present petition.
03. In the stand taken by the GREF, it was urged that no dumping activity was ever undertaken by the GREF and assuming that there was any such dumping of debris over the land belonging to the petitioners, now since the road vests in the PW(R&B) Wing of the UT of J&K, the same is exclusively the liability of the Public Works Department. Reliance was placed on the document executed in the month of January, 2015, executed between Officer Commanding 2 RCC (BRO) and Executive Engineer, PW(R&B) Division Ramban, whereby all the assets and liabilities starting from km 0.00 to km 25.00 on the said road have since vested in the PW(R&B) Division of Ramban and Doda.
04. The stand of the Public Works Department, on the other hand, is that since the dumping was on account of the widening of the road undertaken by the GREF, the same ought to be paid by the GREF.
05. We have heard learned counsel for the parties at length. 3 OWP No. 209/2014
06. There is no dispute that the land of the petitioners has been rendered useless on account of the debris, which has been dumped over the same. This is reflected from various documents, which are on record. The Revenue Department of the UT of J&K appears to have even communicated to the GREF authorities to place a formal indent for acquisition of the land in question, which however has not been done in the present case on account of the specific stand taken by the GREF authorities, which is on record.
07. On the previous date of hearing, it appears that a coordinate Bench of this Court had directed the learned counsel appearing for respondents to have clear instructions in the matter with regard to the removal of the debris, which had been dumped over the land of the petitioners. However, it appears that keeping in view the topography of the area, which is hilly, it may not at all be feasible to remove the debris from the land in question, as the debris and the boulders etc have been dumped down-hill. For those reasons, it appears that the Revenue Authorities had asked the GREF authorities to place a formal indent for acquisition of the land in question. It appears to us that acquisition of the land in question may be the only option available instead of the removal of debris from the land in question.
08. In that view of the matter, the only question that remains to be considered and decided is as to who should be made responsible for payment of the compensation on account of acquisition. In the present case, although the road was initially constructed by the PWD Department, but the widening appears to have been conducted by the GREF authorities, which thereafter handed over the road to the PWD. Although 4 OWP No. 209/2014 the road in question is now stated to be under the control of NHIDCL, yet in view of the affidavit, which formed annexure-RIV with the reply filed by the GREF, it appears that the road in question vested in the Public Works Department along with all assets and liabilities. There is no doubt in our mind that the acquisition proceedings ought to be initiated at the behest of the Public Works Department and compensation paid to the petitioners by the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
09. Be that as it may, we dispose of this petition with the following directions:-
The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department shall within one month from today, place a formal indent for acquisition of the land belonging to the petitioners, which is rendered uncultivable. The process of acquisition shall then be initiated by the Collector Land Acquisition/respondent No. 3 within one month thereafter based upon such a requisition. In case of any delay, the concerned authority shall apply for extension of time from this Court, giving reasons for the delay.
(Rahul Bharti) (Dhiraj Singh Thakur)
Judge Judge
Jammu
11.04.2022
Muneesh
Whether the order is speaking : Yes / No
Whether the order is reportable: Yes / No