*Conveys concern over dilly-dallying approach to DLM, Addl DCs
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 11: Taking seriously the dilly-dallying approach of the concerned authorities in demarcation of huge chunk of Jammu Development Authority land in Jammu and Samba districts thereby making it prone to grabbing by mafia, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Alok Aradhe today issued directions for formulation of joint action plan by the Revenue Department and JDA within a period of three weeks and demarcation of entire land in five months.
The DB also conveyed its displeasure over non-adherence to the directions issued from time to time in this regard to Additional Deputy Commissioners of Jammu and Samba districts and Director Land Management of Jammu Development Authority (JDA), who were personally present in the court in compliance to the directions dated April 7, 2017.
The issue of failure of the Revenue Department to demarcate over 66,000 kanals of land transferred to Jammu Development Authority in Jammu and Samba districts and danger of encroachment by the mafia was exclusively highlighted by EXCELSIOR in its edition dated April 13, 2014.
On the basis of this exclusive news-item of EXCELSIOR, a Public Interest Litigation came to be filed in the State High Court seeking direction for prompt demarcation and in this PIL numerous directions were issued by the court from time to time. However, the ground situation continued to remain worrisome because of dilly-dallying approach of all the concerned authorities and lack of coordination.
This can be gauged from the fact that against 86,941 kanals of land transferred to JDA by the State Government under various orders only 19,391 kanals and 11 marlas has been demarcated till date and the remaining area measuring 66,436 kanals and 1 marla has remained un-demarcated.
On April 7, 2017, the Division Bench of State High Court had found it appropriate to seek personal appearance of Director Land Management of Jammu Development Authority and Additional Deputy Commissioners of Jammu and Samba districts so as to seek explanation from them over delay in demarcation of such a huge chunk of land and leaving it prone to grabbing by mafia and other persons.
Though Additional Deputy Commissioner of Jammu, Dr Arun Manhas and his counterpart in Samba Tilak Raj Sharma along with Director Land Management of JDA Rashpal Singh appeared before the DB yet they failed to convince the court that issue was being handled with utmost seriousness.
Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed, who was appearing for the PIL, submitted that all the concerned authorities were willfully disobeying the directions issued by the court from time to time since April 2014 otherwise three years was sufficient period to complete the demarcation exercise.
“In the absence of clear picture nobody knows how much of un-demarcated JDA land has been grabbed by the mafia”, he said, adding “allowing such a huge chunk of land prone to land grabbing amounts to causing loss to the exchequer of JDA and indirectly promoting the activities of mafia”.
Expressing displeasure over dismal progress in demarcation of land, the DB, in the open court, remarked, “keeping in view the value of such a huge chunk of land it is unbecoming on the part of the concerned authorities to soft-paddle on this vital issue”, adding “we have failed to understand what is stopping all the concerned authorities from carrying out exercise on large scale and ensuring its completion in a time-bound manner”.
Accordingly, the DB directed JDA and revenue authorities of Jammu and Samba districts to prepare a joint action plan within a period of three weeks and submit the same before the court. “The action plan shall be implemented in totality by ensuring complete demarcation of entire land within a period of five months”, the DB further directed in the open court.
They have also been asked to specify in the joint action plan as to how much teams will be required for completion of long pending exercise and fix time-line for each team to accomplish the assigned task. Even Police Department was directed to provide necessary assistance to the teams to achieve the objective behind the orders of the High Court.
Pointing towards the submissions made by Advocate Rameshwar Singh Jamwal, the DB directed that wherever the encroachers of JDA land have been identified eviction process shall be started and completed in a time bound manner.
Advocate Adarsh Sharma appeared for JDA while as Deputy Advocate General Ahsan Mirza appeared for the Revenue Department.
It is pertinent to mention here that even Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, who is holding the charge of Housing and Urban Development Department, had in the month of January 2016 fixed deadline of six months for completion of JDA land demarcation exercise but his directions have also fallen on deaf ears.
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