Time granted for compliance of earlier directions
State fails to furnish copy of Repeal & Savings Act
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 7: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Tashi Rabstan has sought complete list of all the persons who have been given the benefits under Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act popularly known as Roshni Scheme.
Moreover, the Division Bench, while expressing concern over non-implementation of earlier directions, granted time for furnishing copy of the Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Repeal and Savings Act, 2018 enacted by the Governor following dissolution of Legislative Assembly.
When the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Ankur Sharma Versus State of J&K and Others challenging the Roshni Scheme came up for hearing, the petitioner submitted that the respondents have not complied with the directions vis-a-vis furnishing the list of the beneficiaries before the Registry of this court.
“Moreover, there is no compliance to the direction regarding furnishing the copy of the J&K State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Repeal and Savings Act, 2018”, Advocate Ankur Sharma further submitted.
After hearing counsel for the PIL, the DB directed the respondents to place on record a complete list of all the persons who have been given the benefits under the Jammu and Kashmir Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 and also furnish a copy of the same to the petitioner.
The DB also directed respondents to ensure that order dated 1st December, 2019 whereby directions were made to the respondents to place on record the repealing of the Jammu and Kashmir Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 is complied within a period of two weeks from today.
The State High Court has already directed that neither the occupants having been conferred upon the ownership rights shall sell these lands nor can raise constructions on such lands.
In the PIL, the Act has been dubbed as illegal on the ground that it violates the doctrine of equality and creates a special class of society for conferring undue benefits at the will and whims of the political entities.
“The legislation was conceived to reward the violators of law, who instead of being booked for grabbing the State land, were conferred with the ownership rights. Nowhere in the country such a legislation was ever enacted to give premium to those who indulged in land grabbing as such legislation being against public policy and Constitutional mandate is required to be declared unconstitutional and the land so regularized in favour of illegal occupants is required to be retrieved by setting aside all orders of regularizations”, the PIL reads.
It is pertinent to mention here that State Administrative Council had on November 28, 2018 repealed controversial Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 on the ground that the Act has failed to serve the desired purpose.
However, the SAC had provided sufficient safeguards for the action taken earlier by the concerned authorities under the provision of the scheme. “All pending proceedings under the Act shall stand cancelled immediately and abate. However, any action taken under the provisions of the repealed Act earlier shall not be invalid”, the SAC had made it clear.
The fraud in the implementation of Roshni Scheme was unearthed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report tabled in the State Legislature in 2014. The supreme audit institution of the country had found significant variations in unit price approved by the committees for different occupants in the same area or locality in order to confer undue benefits to the occupants of the land.
Though State Vigilance Organization (presently Anti-Corruption Bureau) had also conducted probe into the instances of irregularities brought to the fore by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and even Committee on Public Accounts of the Legislative Assembly had taken up audit paragraphs for discussion and remedial measures but the exercise never reached the logical conclusion.
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