Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Sept 6 : Peeved over the refusal of the Defence Ministry to vacate the land under their illegal occupation at Kashmir House, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has himself take up the issue with senior officials of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR, “the Chief Minister’s Office has also written formal letter for the early vacation of around 96 kanals of land, belonging to Jammu and Kashmir Government, which has been under the occupation of Military Engineering Wing of MoD since 1946” adding, “efforts are also being made to hold parleys with the officials of concerned Ministry to retrieve the prized land at the earliest possible”.
The issue had also cropped in the meeting of Northern Zonal Council (NZC) meeting held last year at Chandigarh, where in Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand had discussed the issue with the then Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram. “The State Government had sought the intervention of Government of India for getting back the control of its multi-crore rupees assets in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Kolkota”, sources said.
Nearly 114 kanals and 11 marlas of prime land located at Rajaji Marg, New Delhi belongs to the State Government. Out of these, only 17 kanals is under the possession of State, while 96 kanals is under occupation of MoD and one kanal and 17 marlas of land is under control of Central Public Works Department.
On the 17 kanals of land under the possession of State Government, 75 staff quarters allotted to employees of various departments has been made. “State Government is also under the process of reviewing the status of the occupants of these Government quarters for optimum usage of the accommodation and a team of officials will visit New Delhi to take required steps for augmentation of the accommodation in New Delhi”, sources asserted.
Another startling case is that of illegal occupation of land measuring nearly 1251 kanals and 4 marlas at Sirsa in Haryana. The land had been initially leased out to M/s Bajwa Brothers for five years with effect from 1957 to 1962. But, subsequently, it had been transferred in favour of Mirpur Cooperative Society by and order dated 02-04-1986 passed by the Assistant Controller 1st Class, Sirsa.
The State Government has now filed a writ petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court for restoration of this land back to Jammu and Kashmir State.
In Chandigarh, the State Government owns a commercial building of one kanal and 7 marlas in Sector 17A, comprising four floors and a basement, which is currently on lease to Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. “The Labour Department have assured the State Government that they shall be vacating the land soon”, sources said.
The issues had also been discussed in the meeting of Departmental Related Standing Committee (DRSC-I) of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council three days back under the chairmanship of MLC, Bashir Ahmed Magrey to review the working of Hospitality and Protocol Department.
Deploring the State of Affairs, the Committee regretted the fact that the legal counsels, which represented the State Government at various legal forums had virtually failed to properly plead the case of State Government. “The Government’s counsels had little knowledge about land-related issues and didn’t have the required expertise to handle such cases. There is dire need to hire legal experts in such cases involving multi-core rupees assets in their respective jurisdiction”, said Mr Magrey.
The meeting was also attended by Principal Secretary, Hospitality and Protocol; B. B. Vyas, Principal Resident Commissioner, JK House, New Delhi, K. B. Aggarwal, Director, Hospitality & Protocol Department, S. S. Jamwal, Additional Secretary, Legislative Council, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat and other Legislators including Ghulam Qadir Pardesi, Showkat Hussain Ganai and Dr. Shahnaz Ganai.
It is pertinent to mention here that around 96 kanals of land at Rajaji Marg was initially leased out to the MoD for a period of five years by virtue of an agreement signed by the then Trade Commission, J&K and Government of India. Although the lease expired in 1951, the property was never vacated. The State get’s Rs 97,942 as rent from the property, which are peanuts when compared to the actual value of the asset. Though successive State Governments have been taking up this issue with Centre, no tangible headway has been made so far.
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