Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 19: Taking serious note of the functioning of General Administration Department, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice, M M Kumar and Justice Hasnain Massodi has accused it of maintaining blissful silence on the alleged encroachment of 92 kanals of State land by the Member Parliament Ch Lal Singh.
The Division Bench made this observation while hearing much publicized Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting organized land grabbing by certain police officers, politicians and bureaucrats in connivance with land mafia.
The matter pertains to the recommendation made by the Commissioner of Vigilance on April 24, 2006 mentioning that Ch Lal Singh was under unauthorized possession of land measuring 92 kanals and 6 marlas, which need to be restored to the State. The copy of the recommendation was obtained by the petitioner through Right to Information Act and in the petition notice was issued to the General Administration Department to apprise the Court about the action taken in the matter.
After hearing Advocates Virender Bhat and S S Ahmed for the petitioner where as AAG H A Siddiqui, the DB observed, “this case reveals a tell tale story of poor administration by none else than the General Administration Department as despite being issued notice no action taken report has been filed”, adding “why no action has been taken is to be explained by the GAD. Let the reasons for maintaining blissful silence be explained in the status report which may be filed within a week”.
In the petition, it has been submitted that despite the expiry of more than six years from the date of submission of report by the Vigilance Commissioner the encroachment has not been removed. “The local revenue authorities appear to be under pressure of the occupant as in response to RTI application dated May 14, 2012, the Tehsildar Hiranagar expressed complete ignorance about the encroachment in question and also took a U-turn to the findings of the SVO”, the petitioner said.
It has further been submitted that Ch Lal Singh and his family are in possession of a huge chunk of land measuring 317 kanals and 16 marlas at village Karandi Khurd acquired through gift deeds and sale deeds by Kanta Andotra, wife of Ch Lal Singh and Kamia Andotra, daughter of Ch Lal Singh. According to petitioner, the RB Educational Trust through its Trustee Kanta Andotra is running Delhi Public School (DPS) from the land and the trust under the patronage of Ch Lal Singh has built a huge farm house which is fully visible on spot.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel