PIL seeking eviction of ex-legislators from Govt accommodation
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 19: A Division Bench of High Court of J&K and Ladakh comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi has directed Senior AAG S S Nanda appearing for Estates Department to file response to the averments made in a fresh application filed by Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed for placing on record a gift deed of a residential house made in favour of ex-Deputy CM Kavinder Gupta and executed by one Yograj Singh, son of Waryam Singh of Sarwal (at present Janipur), which was registered by then Sub-Registrar City, Jammu on August 11, 1987.
After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina, Suraj Singh, Supriya Chouhan, M Zulkernain Choudhary, Syed Majid Shah and Adnan Mushtaq Jaral appearing for the petitioner, the DB further directed Senior AAGs S S Nanda and Monika Kohli appearing for the Govt of J&K to ascertain the correctness of the persons, if necessary, namely Kavinder Gupta (Former Deputy CM) and Yograj Singh in terms of order dated September 13, 2023.
Vide order dated September 13, 2023 the Division Bench had directed Advocate S.S. Ahmed to furnish a list of those persons who possess houses in Jammu or in Kashmir as mentioned in the status report filed by Estates Department on March 28, 2023 wherein a list of 48 persons still occupying the Govt accommodation in J&K was shared.
The Division Bench further said, “it is made clear that if the requisite information is not furnished before the next date by counsel for the respondents, this court will proceed to array the persons named in the application as party respondents and seek response from them”.
Advocate Ahmed vociferously argued that one Yograj Singh, son of Waryam Singh executed a gift deed of a house situated at Janipur in favour of ex-Deputy CM Kavinder Gupta, son of Bindraban Gupta on August 10, 1987 and since then Kavinder Gupta is the owner of the house but he staying in a Ministerial Bungalow Special 4-A Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and the allotment made in his favour by the Estates Department is required to be cancelled as he owns his own residential house in Jammu.
Advocate Ahmed placed on record the names of such persons who are having their own residential accommodation in Jammu/ Kashmir and the same information has been gathered from the details as annexed with the nomination papers filed by these persons with the office of Election Commission of India.
He further drew the attention of the Division Bench to the status report dated November, 8, 2023 wherein it has been mentioned that certain individuals namely Sunil Sharma, ex-Minister, Bashir Ahmed Dar, ex-MLA and Mohd Amin Bhat, ex-MLA have not submitted any reply as to whether they possess any alternative residential accommodation at Jammu/Srinagar.
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