J&K HC Sets Aside Sonawar Eviction Order

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Wednesday quashed an eviction order issued by the Cantonment authorities against residents of Sonawar here, holding that disputed questions of land title cannot be decided through summary proceedings under the Public Premises Act.

A bench of Justice M. A. Chowdhary, while allowing a petition filed by four persons, set aside the order dated 8 August 2022 passed by the Estates Officer, Cantonment Board, Badami Bagh.

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The petitioners had challenged the eviction proceedings initiated under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971, asserting ownership and long-standing possession of land at Bonamsar, Sonawar Srinagar. They relied on revenue records, mutations, and a civil court decree to claim the land as proprietary.

On the other hand, the Union of India and Cantonment authorities argued that the land formed part of Defence property recorded as B-4 land in the General Land Register (GLR), alleging that the petitioners were unauthorized occupants.

The Court noted that both sides had raised competing claims over the land, identified differently in revenue and defence records, thereby involving complex and bona fide disputes of title.

The Court held that summary eviction proceedings cannot be used where title is seriously disputed.

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It also underscored that a registered sale deed carries a strong presumption of validity unless rebutted with cogent evidence, while entries in the GLR do not override revenue records prepared after due process.

“In respect of a registered sale deed the well settled proposition of law lays down that a registered sale deed carries a formidable presumption of validity and genuineness and that the burden of proof to displace this presumption rests heavily upon the challenger, requiring material particulars and cogent evidence to demonstrate that the deed was never intended to operate as a bona fide transfer of title.”

“The General Land Register (GLR) is not prepared after issuing any notification calling for the objections from the interested persons, as in a case relating to the provisions of the Land Revenue Act and the Record of Rights in Land Regulations,” the court said, adding,“There is no wide publicity given and none is heard before making such entries in the General Land Register (GLR). Where a record is prepared by a public servant and such record affects the persons who have no opportunity to object to the same, such record does not carry any probative value.”

The principles of natural justice, the court said, are required to be complied with by the public servants in the matter of preparation of any documents, which may have a tendency of adversely affecting the rights of the private citizens.

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“Only such documents prepared after due notice and hearing of all the concerned shall be deemed to be made by a public servant in the discharge of his official duty within the meaning of Section 35 of the Indian Evidence Act.” The General Land Register (GLR), the court said, as such, cannot be said to be prepared and maintained in respect of the rights in or over the land.

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