PIL seeking closure of 59 unregistered dairies
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 9: Division Bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Puneet Gupta, while expressing deep anguish/displeasure over the non-filing of the compliance report by Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) in terms of order dated March, 18, 2021 read with order dated August, 18, 2021, has imposed Rs 15000 cost.
In the PIL seeking closure of 59 unregistered dairies/establishment of Gowshala, the Division Bench vide these orders had directed the counsel for JMC to seek instructions and to make a statement on the instructions from the JMC as to the time-frame within which unauthorized dairies shall be removed from the municipal limits and the proposed Gowshala (Cattle Pound) would be made operational after completing all necessary formalities.
After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan, Mohd Zulkarnain Chowdhary & Advocate Sayed Majid Shah appearing for the petitioner in the much publicized PIL filed by an NGO, SAVE through its Chairperson Devinder Kour Madaan alias Rumpy Madaan, DB took serious note of non-filing of the compliance report as counsel for JMC further sought adjournment to enable him to report compliance of orders dated March 18, 2021 and August 18, 2021.
The DB reluctantly granted two weeks time to Advocate Harshvardhan Gupta, appearing for JMC to file the response of the JMC subject to the payment of costs of Rs 15,000 by JMC which has to be deposited in the registry of the High Court on or before the next date. The DB further directed that the response shall be filed on affidavit of the Municipal Commissioner and none else and in case, such a response is not filed within the time provided, the Municipal Commissioner shall personally appear before the court on the next date.
Earlier, Advocate S S Ahmed vehemently argued that JMC is non-serious towards the relocation of unregistered/illegal dairies and there is no progress towards the establishment of modern Gowshala and it is unfortunate that the JMC has miserably failed to report compliance of orders dated March, 18, 2021 and August 18, 2021.
Advocate Harshvardhan appearing for JMC tried to resist the submissions of Advocate Ahmed and requested the DB that there were certain developments which delayed the filing of the compliance report and further submitted that cost of Rs 15,000 may not be imposed upon JMC and he be granted a short adjournment to file the compliance report of previous orders of the Court. However, the DB headed by Chief Justice did not concede to the prayer made by the counsel for JMC.
At this stage, Senior Advocate Pranav Kohli with Advocate Arun Dev Singh invited the attention of DB towards an application filed in the PIL wherein he invited the attention of the DB towards the order dated September, 21, 2020 whereby the Division Bench had prohibited all authorities not to entertain any matter/ case pertaining to the removal of encroachments on the forest and to approach High Court by means of an application.
Senior Advocate Pranav Kohli strenuously argued that statutory remedies have been blocked by virtue of an interim order dated September 21, 2020 and the same deserves to be withdrawn so as to enable the aggrieved persons to approach the appellate authority— Chief Conservator of Forests.
Upon this, the Division Bench withdrew the embargo with liberty to the parties to avail the statutory remedy available under the Forest Act and to approach the High Court only if there is no remedy provided against any action or order.
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