Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Recently Financial Commissioner Revenue’s office issued a communication vide letter No: FC -LS/LA-4577/2017 Dated : 13.08.2020 conveying the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir about the approval accorded to the adoption of rates for land acquisition in six villages of Budgam district namely Gund e Kuzwera, Wathoora, Jawaharpora, Ichgam, Dharmuna and Waterwani. Financial Commissioner Revenue who according to the letter seems to have been delegated the powers of “competent authority” by Government as per the repealed J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 (samvat 1990) has approved the rates after preparation of the award by Collector Land Acquisition Budgam for Srinagar Semi Ring Road project. The said approval has been granted by the “competent authority” after a gap of almost 3 ½ years which violates the provisions of J&K’s repealed Land Acquisition Act 1934 as well as Right to Fair Compensation law for Land Acquisition which is now applicable in UT of J&K as well wef Oct 31st 201. Moreover the approved rates are much lower than the Govt’s own stamp rates of year 2020.
Award within 2 years
Section 11 of erstwhile J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 mandates the acquiring authority to complete the acquisition proceedings within a period of 2 years from the date of notification under section 4 of the Act and in the event of its failure to do so, the notification and the proceedings taken thereunder are to lapse. Section 11-B of J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 (samvat 1990-now repealed post article 370 abrogation ) reads as :
“The Collector shall make an award under section 11within a period of two years from the date of the publication of the declaration and if no award is made within that period, the entire proceedings for the acquisition of land shall lapse ”
The notification under section 4 for instance in case of village Wathoora in Budgam was issued on 20thMarch 2017 and it was mandatory for the Collector Land Acquisition Budgam to finalize the land acquisition process and make an award on or before 20th of March 2019. However neither the award was approved by the competent authority nor published within the stipulated period as mandated under the repealed J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934. It was incumbent upon a Collector to notify the award to the interested persons within the meaning of section 12 of the repealed land acquisition act. Section 12 of J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 (now repealed) reads as :
Award of Collector when to be final
“(1) Such award shall be filed in the Collector’s office and shall, except as hereinafter provided, be final and conclusive evidence, as between the Collector and the persons interested, whether they have respectively appeared before the Collector or not, of the true area and the value of the land, and the apportionment of the compensation among the persons interested.
(2) The Collector shall give immediate notice of his award to such of the persons interested, as are not present personally or by their representatives when the award is made”
Collector Land Acquisition Budgam did not at any point of time within the stipulated period of 2 years commencing from 20th March 2017 till today ever notified to the aggrieved farmers that any award was made by him in respect of their land intended to be acquired by virtue of the Financial Commissioner’s recent communication. Not even an oral notice was issued to the affected people to attend the collectorate for receiving the contents of the award. This clearly indicates that notification under section 4 of J&K’s repealed land acquisition act 1934 has lapsed and a fresh notification has to be issued.
DC Budgam’s letter
Recently I had access to an important official document wherein Deputy Commissioner Budgam communicated to Divisional Commissioner Kashmir bearing letter No : DCB/LAS/20/300-10 Dated: 18.05.2020 giving comprehensive status report about acquisition of land for construction of Srinagar Semi Ring Road. DC Budgam while giving village wise status has very clearly admitted and disclosed that in case of several villages in Budgam no approval of the award has been received from the competent authority till the date of transmission of said communication. He has also admitted that the land acquisition proceedings in respect of these villages have lapsed. At the end of the communication the Deputy Commissioner Budgam has sought instructions from Div Com Kashmir for initiation of fresh proceedings under the Central Land Acquisition Act in the following terms which reads as :
“Guide if the land acquisition matters of villages detailed at (a) of the communication are to be initiated afresh as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 ”
Moreover Section 24 sub section 1 & 2 of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act -RFCTLARR Act 2013 which is applicable in the Union Territory of J&K w.e.f October 31st2019 also has a similar provision which reads as :
” Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, in any case of land acquisition proceedings initiated under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894,- (a) where no award under section 11 of the said Land Acquisition Act has been made, then, all provisions of this Act relating to the determination of compensation shall apply.
Pertinently the 1894 Land Acquisition Act was applicable across India (except J&K) prior to enactment of 2013 Right to Fair compensation law. In our case 1894 law can be equated with J&K’s Land Acquisition Act 1934.
Promise from Parliament
In consequence of abrogation of article 370 and enactment of J&K Reorganization Act 2019 several laws of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir have been repealed and some central laws including the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR Act 2013) has been extended to the UT of Jammu & Kashmir with effect from Oct 31st 2019. J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 having been repealed figures at serial No 73 , Table 3 of Schedule 5 of J&K Reorganization Act 2019 while as Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR Act 2013) having been extended to J&K figures at Serial No. 94, Table 1 of schedule 5. Moreover on the floor of the parliament a commitment was made to the people of Jammu & Kashmir that after abrogation of article 370 and extension of central laws to J&K would confer upon them the benefits of all central laws and flagship programmes which otherwise had been denied so far. It is unfortunate that even after extension of central laws the past practice of stealing of people’s rights continues to persist thus promoting the alienation of the people. Affected land owners in Jammu have already been deprived of fair compensation during Ring Road project as the land acquisition process was completed under repealed law. One affected person Harbans Lal of Bishnah even committed suicide as Govt paid him mere Rs 11 lakhs for his house and ½ kanal land coming under alignment of Jammu Ring Road project. Now Govt wants to deprive people of Kashmir as well from fair getting compensation inspite of the fact that they are entitled to get compensation under central law which guarantees the same.
Conclusion
The cumulative effect of lapse of land acquisition proceedings within the meaning of section 11 of J&K’s repealed land acquisition act on the solitary ground of non-making of award within the stipulated period of 2 years and extension of Central Land Acquisition Act (Right to Fair Compensation law) to the UT of Jammu & Kashmir is that if at all the land of the petitioners is still required for any public purpose including construction of Srinagar Semi Ring Road, the only remedy available with Government is to initiate the fresh land acquisition proceedings under the central law especially at a time when the farmers and other affected people continue to remain in possession of the land in question and non-payment of any amount as compensation on the basis of so called Tentative Assessment. The testimony of the petitioners being in continuous actual physical possession is borne out by the revenue record (Girdawari for Rabi 2019- 2020) issued by the Patwari concerned. This makes it clear that farmers are still in possession of the land. On this additional ground also the entire land acquisition proceedings made under the repealed law have become in-fructuous as neither any possession of the land has been taken over by the respondents nor any kind of compensation has been paid to them in consequence of any award which has never been made or notified to the petitioners.
(The author is Founder & Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement)
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