Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 14: A joint meeting of Kashmiri Khatri Hindu Maha Sabha , Kashmiri Khatri Yuvak Sabha and Displaced Kashmiri Unemployed Youth Union was held at Jagti township today under the chairmanship of its president Er. Ramesh Chander Mahajan in which, various demands of Kashmiri Khatri migrant community were discussed.
The meeting said as per the J&K Migrants Immovable Property (Preservation Protection and Restoration of Distress Sale Act) 1997, the Deputy Commissioners are the custodian of migrants land in Valley and they have to ensure its protection but in various cases the concerned DCs have failed to act in accordance with the law and the land mafia is making a heyday who have grabbed hundreds Kanals of migrants land including orchards.
The meeting said that at many places migrants have entered into the legal battles with encroachers for restoration of their land while the law gives clear instructions that in case of objection by the land owner regarding the sale, the concerned DCs without any loss of time have to maintain the status quo of such land and restore it to its owner. However in many cases the DCs have chosen to remain a silent spectator, it added.
The meeting said in various cases mutation of land records was done without the knowledge of the owner who leads an exiled life and this way the Act is thrown into winds. The meeting said though some affected families also approached to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) but despite its intervention the land was not restored to the owners till date which also shows the callousness of the State Government.
It said if concerned DCs try to vacate the land the encroachers resort to other legal methods and create hindrances in restoring the same to owners. Some migrants who are totally dependent on cash doles from Government are unable to visit Kashmir and approach concerned authorities. Hence the Government should issue orders that the orders passed by the DCs in restoration of the land are subject to no intervention from any other office including legal authority.
The meeting demanded restoration of migrants land, other property cow sheds etc by declaring the distress sale null and void.
It further demanded enhancement of cash relief to Rs 25,000 per month. While condemning the killing of Sameer Bhat a police cop it demanded full compensation to the family as admissible under rules for police martyrs and Government job to his next kin.
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