‘Petitioners have no role in agreement between J&K, Punjab’
Directs Govt to pay compensation, statutory interest
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 17: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has provided long overdue relief to the owners of land in Basohli town which got submerged due to construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam with the direction to the Government of Union Territory to pay compensation with statutory interest at the rate of 6% per annum on account of compensation illegally withheld by the respondents.
It was brought to the notice of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal by the petitioners that an award was passed in the year 1997 for payment of compensation regarding the land and the residential houses of the petitioners possession of which was taken over by the Collector Land Acquisition and same was placed at the disposal of Ranjit Sagar Dam Authorities in the State of Punjab.
The petitioners admitted that insofar as the compensation for the ownership lands and the houses that came under the acquisition was concerned, the same was paid to the petitioners but insofar Shamlat Deh land in town Basohli is concerned, which has submerged on account of the construction of the dam, the same has not been paid.
It was further submitted that non-payment of the compensation by the respondents is flagrant violation of the constitutional right guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
The respondents, in their reply, not disputed the claim of the petitioners with regard to entitlement for receiving the compensation in question but the only plea which was projected by the them was that the payment of compensation could not be materialized due to the non-availability of the requisite funds from the State of Punjab and Thein Dam Project Authority, who have been requested on various occasions to make the payment so that the claim of the petitioners is redressed.
After hearing Advocate Anirudh Sharma for the petitioners and Advocate Sagira Jaffer vice Senior Additional Advocate General Monika Kohli for the respondents, Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal observed, “the issue whether the compensation is being paid by the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir or by the State of Punjab is no more res-integra and the same has already been clinched by the Co-ordinate Bench of this court in OWP No. 547/2002 along with clubbed petition decided on 27.05.2009 involving similar questions of fact and law which is subject matter in the instant petition”.
“Accordingly, a Co-ordinate Bench of this court had directed the respondents to pay the amount assessed by the Government, to the petitioners within stipulated period along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date the amount was due to them till it is actually paid with the rider that the State Government will be within its right to recover the same from the State of Punjab in terms of the provisions of the agreement executed way back in the year 1979”, Justice Nargal said.
The court while deciding the petition was of the view that since petitioners have no role to play as it is a bilateral agreement between the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and the State of Punjab and the parties to the agreement cannot violate the provisions of the agreement as the petitioners have no privity of contract with the State of Punjab and this aspect of the matter weighed heavily with the Co-ordinate Bench of this court and the petition was allowed by directing the respondent to pay the compensation, Justice Nargal said.
“From a bare perusal of the judgment passed by the Division Bench and Co-ordinate Bench of the court, it is manifestly clear that the liability to pay the amount to the petitioners is of the Collector and the Government and the petitioners by no stretch of imagination can be permitted to wait till the final settlement is made at between the Punjab Government and the State Government”, Justice Nargal said, adding “there is no denying the fact that the process of acquisition was done by the State Government and the amount was payable by the concerned Collector to the petitioners who were entitled for compensation and insofar as the rehabilitation package which is part of the compensation as per the agreement was to be payable by the State Government to the petitioners for and on behalf of the State of Punjab”.
“Since there is a bilateral agreement between the State of Punjab and the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and the parties to the agreement cannot be allowed to perpetuate the illegality by violating the provisions of the agreement and, accordingly, a duty is cast upon the respondents to pay the compensation to the petitioners”, the High Court said.
Stating that the stand taken by the respondents is not legally sustainable in the light of the decision already taken by this court in identical matters which has been accepted by the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and now the Union Territory without any demur, Justice Nargal has directed the respondents to pay compensation to the petitioners for their respective shares in Shamlat Deh land in town Basohli submerged on account of construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam as assessed under rules as due to the petitioners along with statutory interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the amount of compensation illegally withheld by the respondents within eight weeks.
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