‘Right to property is very important human right’
Provides much-awaited justice to 25 families
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 15: Providing much awaited justice to 25 families, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has held that land once allotted to the Displaced Persons (DPs) from Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) for their rehabilitation under Government Order No. 578-C of 1954 cannot be taken away from them by any means or by any of the agency without payment of rentals (through requisition) or by payment of compensation (through acquisition) after adopting due course of law.
Moreover, the Bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal has directed the Union of India through Defence Secretary and others to pay rental compensation which has been assessed by the State Government from 01.01.1978 to 31.03.2009 amounting to Rs 2.49 crore to the lawful claimants including the petitioners after necessary verification and assess the rental compensation with effect from 31.03.2009 till date in the light of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The petition was filed on behalf of all the family members/descendents of 24 Displaced Persons (DPs) of 1947 to whom the land measuring 224 Kanals and 10 Marlas falling under Khasra Nos. 2, 3 and 6 of village Chatha in Jammu was allotted in the year 1953 by the State Government for their rehabilitation under Government Order No. 578-C of 1954, for vindication of their common rights for getting compensation for the land from the respondent-Union of India, which according to the counsel appearing for the petitioners was illegally and unlawfully occupied by the respondent.
The case of the petitioners was that the land in question was originally a private land belonged to the private persons and after coming into force the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, the same was escheated to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. After the allotment of land to the petitioners and their predecessors-in-interest, they remained in cultivating possession of the land. The mutation in respect of the land was also attested in favour of the petitioners in conformity with the terms and conditions, as laid down in Government Order No. 254-C of 1965.
The instant petition was by way of second round of litigation. In the earlier writ petition of the DPs and LPA of the respondents, the High Court had taken decision in the favour of the DPs. Even different committees including one headed by Chief Secretary constituted in the light of disputed questions of fact found that land allotted to the DPs was in conformity with the Government Order No.578-C of 1954 and held that genuine case was made by the petitioners for getting possession of their land from the Army in addition to the grant of rental compensation from 1978 onwards. However, despite all this the petitioners remained deprived of the compensation leading to 2nd round of litigation.
After hearing Advocate Jagpaul Singh for the petitioners and CSGC Sandeep Gupta and Senior AAG Monika Kohli for the respondents, High Court observed, “a bare perusal of record reveals that none of the mutation was ever challenged by the defence authorities and DPs were the legal/rightful owners of their land, which was later unauthorisedly and forcibly occupied by the defence forces in 1978”.
“Once a land is allotted to the DPs for their rehabilitation under GO 578-C of 1954, the same cannot be taken away from them by any means or by any of the agency without payment of rentals (through requisition) or by payment of compensation (through acquisition) after adopting due course of law”, High Court said.
Justice Nargal further said, “agreement signed between the Union of India and the State Government in 1956 and various board proceedings held thereafter by the Army leads to the irresistible conclusion that both the parties knew and acknowledged that 1369 Kanals land out of the total land of Ex-State Armed Forces had been duly allotted to the DPs of 1947 for their resettlement by the State Government”.
“Therefore, the stand of Union of India that all the land of Ex-State Armed Forces, as it stood on 01.09.1949, had been transferred to the Indian Army, post facto, by an agreement made on 14.01.1956, is factually incorrect and cannot sustain in the eyes of law in light of the fact that all the allotments made by the State Government were strictly in consonance with law and earlier to the agreement”, the High Court said.
The Union of India after having accepted the findings recorded by the various Enquiry Committees constituted in this regard is estopped under law to question the claim of the petitioners at this belated stage, more particularly, when there is no challenge to the same till date, High Court said, adding “the whole spirit behind the GO 578-C of 1954 is that a Displaced Person, who has once been uprooted from his native place in PoK due to partition, should be rehabilitated and not to be uprooted again”.
“Land of the petitioners is not being formally acquired by the respondents by having resort to Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation Act, 2013. This court finds that land belonging to the petitioners in under unauthorized occupation of the respondent-Union of India since 1978 and continues to be so even as on date”, Justice Nargal said, adding “right to property is a constitutional right as envisaged under Article 300 A of the Constitution of India and the petitioners by no stretch of imagination can be deprived of their right to property being constitutional right without following due process of law”.
Accordingly, High Court directed the respondents to pay the rental compensation which has been assessed by the State Government from 01.01.1978 to 31.03.2009 amounting to Rs 2.49 crore to the lawful claimants including the petitioners after necessary verification, within a period of one month. The High Court further directed the respondents to assess the rental compensation with effect from 31.03.2009 till date in the light of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 within a period of one month.
“If the rental compensation already assessed by the Deputy Commissioner, Jammu for the period 01.01.1978 to 31.03.2009 is not made to the petitioners after verification within this period, the petitioners will be entitled to claim interest at the rate of 6% per annum from Union of India from the date the same was payable and denied by the respondents and the interest component would also be payable to the petitioners for future rental compensation with effect from 01.04.2009 till date if the same is assessed/paid to the petitioners within time frame granted by this court”.
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