‘Land acquisition don’t fall in court domain’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 28: High Court today held that in the matters of land acquisition, the viability or feasibility in the process of acquisition for public purposes does not fall with the domain of court unless it is found to be contrary to law or is tainted with pulpable malafides.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Javed Iqbal Wani dismissed the appeal filed by aggrieved persons by recording that the writ court judgment does not call for any interference.
The DB said the case makes it abundantly clear and demonstrable that in the whole process of acquisition undertaken by the officials it had been less than 10 persons who felt aggrieved with the land acquisition process when most of the other land owners and residents seemingly did not challenge the same.
In such kind of situation, DB said, striking a lethal blow to the entire proceedings while invoking extraordinary writ jurisdiction had been found not to be advisable by the Supreme Court. The Collector Land Acquisition Ramban, had issued notification in the year 2016 for acquiring the proposed land for construction of Hewagon-Dhanmasta road under PMGSY Scheme package.
The alignment qua the construction of road was found to cause damage to number of residential houses as well as land as such realignment of the take off of point of road in question got necessitated which realignment came to be approved by the Government of India upon being recommended by the Government of J&K after obtaining an opinion of the experts in the matter.
Aggrieved of the said process, some residents of revenue village Dhanmasta Tehsil Pogal Paristan district Ramban approached the court in order to challenge the notification as also the process of land acquisition undertaken by the officials.
Officials in opposition to the appeal filed by residents contended before the court that they were provided an opportunity of being heard and that a detailed report was submitted in this regard to Government of J&K Revenue Department for issuance of declaration under Land Acquisition Act and the same came to be issued also.
Various residents also opposed the appeal of aggrieved persons by submitting that the road in question had been sanctioned in the year 2006 and was seriously objected by the 3 adjacent villages regarding its alignment and the same was found to be genuine by the officials, possibility of alternate take off point came to be explored and finally approval granted thereto by the GoI Ministry of Rural Development, Rural Connectivity Division after receiving the recommendation from the Government of J&K.
Court after hearing the matter in detail and referring the Apex Court ruling on the subject said, wherever there is conflict between the private interest and the largest public interest, the later prevails over the former. “The private interest must give way to the public interest and the same should stand subordinate to public good”, DB added.
The DB said the grievances lodged by the aggrieved person before the writ court have been lucidly and validly dealt with by the Single Judge in the judgment under challenge and turned down their grievances.
Court added that the record of the cases reveals and suggests that neither any prejudice to the aggrieved persons is demonstrable nor could same be reasonably inferred qua the acquisition proceedings undertaken by the officials in furtherance of a public purpose for construction of much needed road in question.
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