Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 11: In a petition filed by Louis Braille Memorial School for the Sightless girls, Roop Nagar, Jammu challenging rejection of the request for allotment of the said piece of land.
Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur after hearing both the sides constitute a Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, UT of J&K, Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Social Welfare Department, UT of J&K as also the Vice-Chairman, Jammu Development Authority, who will go into the question and take a sympathetic view.
The Committee can even consider allotment of any other plot of land, if the same is available and vacant in favour of the Jammu Municipality, while considering the case of the petitioners in regard to the plot in question.
The present petition has been filed by the National Federation of the Blind, which has a branch in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a duly registered society under the Societies Registration Act. The organization runs a school for visually impaired girls in the Roop Nagar Colony in Jammu. The said school has been constructed over a plot of land measuring approximately 02 kanals. It appears that the number of girl students who suffer from visual impairment is approximately 50. These students are housed in a two storied building, which consists of residential quarters/hostel as also the class rooms.
It is stated that there is hardly any free area left for the free movement of the students. It is also stated that over a period of time the school expects an increase in the number of students, which may be admitted in the said institution. It is further stated that this is the only institution for the visually impaired girls in the entire UT of J&K, therefore, the need for expansion is imminent and necessary.
In the aforementioned backdrop, it is stated that the petitioners have been making efforts for obtaining an extra piece of land from the Jammu Development Authority in addition to two kanals, which have already been allotted to the institution. However, instead of acceding to the request of the petitioners for allotment of additional piece of land, the JDA has now allotted approximately 05 kanals of land to the Jammu Municipal Corporation for running an Animal Treatment Centre. The request of the petitioners for allotment of land was rejected on the premise that a ‘high tension line’ power is running over the land in question, therefore, there is a need to keep the said area as a green area.
Adv . Santosh Kumar Rungta assisted by Adv Ravi Abrol appearing on behalf of the petitioners vehemently urged that the reason for rejection of the request for allotment of the said piece of land was infact flimsy, inasmuch as, even today a portion of the existing building of the school was coming within the range of the high tension line.
Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur after hearing both the sides observed that there is considerable weight in the submissions made by the learned senior counsel for the petitioners. It appears that this is an institution, which is the only institution of its kind, which takes care of the interest of the visually impaired girl students in the UT of J&K.
Justice Thakur observed that the official respondents need to re-consider their decision with regard to the plot in question, which has been allotted in favour of the Jammu Municipal Corporation and constitute a Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, UT of J&K, Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Social Welfare Department, UT of J&K as also the Vice-Chairman, Jammu Development Authority, who will go into the question and take a sympathetic view. The Committee can even consider allotment of any other plot of land, if the same is available and vacant in favour of the Jammu Municipality.
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