Greater
Kashmir: Srinagar:
Thursday, June 23, 2016.
The Jammu and
Kashmir High Court has directed the government to take action for retrieving
650 kanals of Kahcharie land allegedly encroached upon by land mafia at Zakura,
Gulab Bagh and Bhagat Shura in suburbs of Srinagar.
One Peer
Noor-ul-Haq had approached the court with a plea that the land mafia has
usurped 650 kanals of Kahcharai land at Zakura, Ghulab Bagh Bhgat Shura,
claiming to be owners of the land and have raised constructions on it.
Disposing of
the petition, a bench of Justice Ramallingam Sudhakar directed Tehsildar
Hazratbal to take action in the matter as competent authority as expeditiously
as possible.
In support of
his contention, the petitioner produced a reply copy he had received through
Right to Information Act as proof that the land in question is a Kahcharie
land.
While the RTI
reply revealed that 459 Kanals as per the ‘Jamobandi’ 1954-60 and 2010-11,
situated at Zakura and Gulab Bagh has been grabbed, it divulged another piece
of Kacharie land comprising 194 Kanals and 7 Marlas has been also usurped at Estate Bhagat
Shura.
The
petitioner pleaded that he approached the Revenue department for taking
necessary action against the land mafias in order to evict them from the land.
The
authorities, he pleaded, however, failed to discharge their statutory duty for
the reasons best known to them. He submitted that the inaction by the
authorities prompted him to file a petition before the court to protect the
precious state land.
For
retrieving the land, the petitioner sought directions to the Revenue
authorities to discharge their duty by evicting the land mafias from the
illegal encroachment over the kahcharie land.
“In view of
the relief sought for by the petitioner (Peer), Tehsildar Hazratbal Srinagar/
competent authority is directed to consider the nature of complaint filed by
the petitioner and take action in the matter in accordance with law as
expeditiously as possible,” the court said.
Pertinently,
the High Court has earlier also ruled that
the structures on the Kahcharai land have to be removed in keeping
with the Apex Court judgment handed down
in the petition titled Jagpal Singh and others versus State of Punjab.
“Illegalities
committed in nature of usurpation of Common Lands of the village communities
cannot be regularized and the common interest of the villagers cannot be made
to suffer merely because the unauthorized occupation has subsisted for many
years,” reads the apex court judgment.