HC Slaps Rs 10 Lakh Penalty On J & K Govt For Demolition Of Restaurant

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- In a strong rebuke to official overreach, the High Court of J&K and Ladakh has ordered the government to pay Rs 10 lakh as punitive compensation to a 79-year-old man whose restaurant in Jammu was demolished without legal authority, calling the action a blatant violation of constitutional property rights.

A bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal underscored that Article 300-A of the Indian Constitution safeguards an individual's property rights, prohibiting arbitrary confiscation by the Government or any authority.

“...the respondents (authorities) are directed to pay the petitioner a punitive compensation to the tune of ₹10,00,000/- (ten lacs) as an interim measures which will be in addition to the compensation by way of damages to the tune of ₹76,40,200/- (seventy six lacs, forty thousand, two hundred) which has been assessed and is being granted by this Court for demolishing the property of the petitioner without any authority of law,” the court said while disposing of a petition filed by one Abdul Majid of Bathindi in which the 79-year-old stated that he constructed a restaurant-“Grand Hill' after obtaining necessary permissions in 2012 and Tehsildar Jammu cancelled the mutations without notice and that the Forest Department subsequently demolished the structure in 2022, alleging encroachment on forest land.

Besides, the court directed the Chief Secretary of J&K to conduct an“in-depth” enquiry within a period of two months and take suitable action including penal measures on the basis of the findings of the enquiry to ensure accountability of individual officers who have acted in violation of the law in the instant case.

Earlier, the court underlined that the“arbitrary and unilateral actions” of the former State (now Union Territory) cannot be countenanced, as the State (now UT) has failed to adhere to the due process of law and has attempted to revisit an issue that was conclusively resolved in 1958, when the predecessors-in-interest were designated as tenants-at-will, and later when proprietary rights were granted pursuant to a Government Order in

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1966, which facilitated the attestation of mutations and the registration of sale deeds.

“Consequently, this Court believes that the officials of the State (now UT) who execute or endorse such unlawful actions should face disciplinary measures, and their illegal transgressions should result in criminal as well as disciplinary repercussions, as public accountability for public officials must be the norm.”

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