Mohd Sadeeq v. UT of J&K

Through :- Mr. A.A. Khan, Advocate. v/s UT of J&K and Ors. .....Respondent(s) Through :- Ms. Monika Kohli, Sr. AAG. Ms. Pallavi Sharma, Advocate with Mr. Ravinder Gupta, AAG. CORAM: HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD CHATTERJI KOUL, JUDGE ORDER 16.03.2023

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned counsel for the respondents.

2. The present petition has been filed seeking following reliefs:- “a. That by acquiring the land of the petitioners without adopting due course of law by PWD department is clear cut violation of fundamental right as the right to property is a fundamental right and by doing so they have violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners as such they may be directed to give compensation to the petitioners for the land acquired under Right to Fair compensation Transparency and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Re-settlement Act 2013. b. That despite approaching several times to the respondents for finalizing the acquisition process and pass final award under Right to Fair compensation Transparency and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Re-settlement Act 2013, the respondents are delaying the matter on one or the other pretext due to which the petitioners are suffering badly for none of their fault and they are being deprived of their proprietary land as such the petitioners are seeking directions to the respondents in this regard through the medium of instant petition. c. That the joint verification and field certificate has also been issued by the revenue official and PWD Department and the same is lying before the Collector Land Acquisition Rajouri who was suppose to take final decision in the matter, but the said issued a respondent the same has instead of finalizing 2 WP(C) No. 214/2022 communication dated 20.12.2021 to respondent no. 3 stating therein that the indent paper has been placed by the incompetent authority as such the same cannot be considered and after the issuance of aforesaid communication no further action has been taken over the matter by the respondent no. 3 as a result of which no final decision has been taken so far and the petitioners are moving from pillar to post for compensation as such the respondents may kindly be directed to finalize the acquisition process so that the compensation can be provided to the petitioners under Right to Fair compensation Transparency and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Re-settlement Act 2013. d. That the petitioners reserve their right to argue additional grounds at the time of hearing with the kind leave of this Hon'ble Court.”.

3. In response, the respondents have filed their affidavit in this regard. The objections filed by respondent Nos. 2 & 6 would be of significance inasmuch as the Collector has stated that once they receive some relevant documents from the intending department i.e. PWD, they would initiate the process for land acquisition. The said stand is to be found in para Nos. 3-8, which are reproduced as under:- “ 3-8 That in reply to the contents of this para, it is respectfully submitted that consequent upon receipt of Indent vide No. CEI/DB/627-30 dated 11.04.2018 from Chief Engineer PWD, Jammu, the process of preparation of revenue papers of land to be acquired in the instant land acquisition was initiated. The Executive Engineer, PWD (R&B) Division, Rajouri vide his office communication No. 10427-30 dated 13.09.2021 furnished authenticated revenue papers of land in question. The copy of letter dated 13.09.2021 is enclosed and marked as Annexure R1 for the perusal of the Hon’ble Court. However, the revenue papers along with the case file was received after repealing of J&K Land Acquisition Act 1990 which was repealed vide J&K Reorganization Act, 2019 which requires revised indent under the provisions contained under "Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Since the Indent in the present case was received under the old act from the Public Works Department, as such, the same could not be considered/entertained for the acquisition of land in the present case. Accordingly, the answering respondent vide communication No. AC/LAl3l7 dated 22.09.2021 requested the Executive Engineer PWD, Raiouri to place the indent under the provisions of "Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and rules thereunder after completion of codal formalities. The Copy of letter dated 3 WP(C) No. 214/2022 o[ respondent, thorough perusal

22.09.2021 is enclosed and marked as Annexure R2 for the perusal of the Hon'ble Court. Accordingly, Chief Engineer, PW (R&B) Department Jammu vide communication No. CEJ/LA/133-35 dated 15.03.2022 placed Indent and requested that the instant case be process as per the provisions of "Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013" That answering aforementioned communication/indent found that the Indent received from the indenting department has certain shortcomings that the Government framed rules under "Right to Fair Compensation in Land Acquisition, rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013" vide notification S.0 313 of 2022 read with Circular No. 46-JK (GAD) of 2022 dated 29.11.2022 wherein the following documents are mandatorily require to initiate land acquisition proceedings as per the mandate of “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013” : l. Detailed Project Report of the Project. ll. Sanction letter of the project; lll. Details of the land required along with map of the area; IV. Information about the classification of the rand i.e irrigated multi-cropped, single cropped, wasteland etc. (if available) V. Status of funds for payment of compensation. and Transparency Since, the above documents are mandatorily required to initiate the land acquisition proceedings, the answering respondent vide Communication No. AC/LA/121-22 dated 12.09.2022 and No. AC/LA/261-62 dated 25.02.2023 requested Executive Engineer, PWD (R&B) Division, Rajouri to provide these documents enabling the answering respondent to proceed further for initiating the acquisition proceedings of the land involved in the present acquisition case. The copy of both the aforesaid letter dated 12.09.2022 and 25.02.2023 are enclosed and marked as Annexure R3 and R4 respectively for the perusal of the Honb'ble court. That in reply to para No.4 of the petition, it is submitted that as reported by revenue field functionaries, no traces of dumping of any material on the spot has been found. However, as on date the required documents have not been received from the office of Executive Engineer, PWD (R&B) Division, Rajouri despite repeated calls. As soon as the required documents are received from the Indenting Department, the answering respondent shall immediately initiate the land acquisition proceedings of land involved in the instant case. From the above, it is clear that once the aforesaid documents are furnished to the respondent Nos. 2 & 6, they would initiate the land acquisition proceedings. 4 WP(C) No. 214/2022

4. Under the circumstances, we close this petition by directing the respondent Nos. 1, 3, 4 & 5 to furnish the necessary documents as sought for under letter dated 25.02.2023 as early as possible preferably within a period of one month. Thereafter, the respondent Nos. 2 & 6 will, on receipt of the relevant documents from the intending department, initiate the process of land acquisition so that the petitioner, whose land has been under occupation of the authorities, can be given the compensation in accordance with law within a period of four months thereafter.

5. Disposed of. (VINOD CHATTERJI KOUL) (N.KOTISWAR SINGH) JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE JAMMU 16.03.2023 Tarun