Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 4: High Court today directed the Advocate General Mohammad Ishaq Qadri to ensure that the conversion of agricultural land into residential or commercial should not take place.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey while hearing a petition filed by Human Watch over the conversion of agricultural land into residential land, also observed that the Advocate General should assist the Court with regard to the action taken by the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) and Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in respect of the General Bus Stand, Batamaloo.
The court observed,”under which provision the SDA has allotted the space of the bus terminal for business purposes to the squatters”. It also asked the SMC and SDA to file upto date status report in the case.
Advocate NA Beg, who appeared for the petitioner, had sought strict enforcement and implementation of the laws which ban conversion of agrarian land into residential colonies.
The court was also hearing a petition that sought its direction on illegal construction from Khanabal to Pahalgam in South Kashmir, that was represented by Advocate Jahangir Iqbal Ganaie.