Ashfaq Ahmed Khan & Ors. v. UT of J & K & Ors.

Through :- Ms. Chetna Manhas, Assisting counsel to Mrs. Monika Kohli, Sr. AAG Ms. Pallavi Sharma, Assisting counsel to Mr. Ravinder Gupta, AAG Ms. Parkhi Parihar, Assisting counsel to Mr. Vishal Sharma, DSGI CORAM: HON’BLE MS. JUSTICE MOKSHA KHAJURIA KAZMI, JUDGE ORDER 23.05.2025

The petitioners through the medium of the instant petition have sought the following reliefs: i. Quashment of award no. Coll/Def/2023-24/3316-19 dated

12.03.2024 whereby, the respondent no. 3 has passed award under Land Acquisition Act, 1990 which was repealed with Right To Fair Compensation And Rehabilitation And Resettlement Act, 2013 pursuant to Reorganization Act,

2019. ii. Commanding and directing the respondent not to demolish the structure of the petitioner without first acquiring the land as per the provision of Right to Fair Compensation and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. iii. Commanding and directing the respondents to pay the compensation to the petitioners as per the prevailing market rate in view of the provision of Right to Fair Compensation and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. 2 WP (C) No. 955/2025

iv. Commanding and directing the respondents to allot the land to the petitioners where the similar facilities including commercial activities can be carried out as the petitioners have the only source of income from the said commercial establishments. The petitioners claim ownership of land situated at Village Dhundak, Tehsil Surankote, District Poonch on which they have constructed their houses. The specific case of the petitioners is that, in order to widen the Jammu-Poonch D/L GREF Road, respondents initiated the process of acquisition and issued a notification along with a list of structures falling under the proposed road alignment. The houses and structures of the petitioners were also included in the said list. However, the respondents arbitrarily mentioned meagre amounts against the names in the list without conducting an actual on-site assessment through qualified experts.

Further case of the petitioners is that respondent no. 3 issued notification no. Coll/Del/477-82 dated 13.10.2015, under Section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1990, inviting objections from the land owners with respect to the proposed acquisition. The petitioners filed their objections. However, their grievance is that the respondents neither considered the objections nor concluded the acquisition proceedings. Meanwhile, with the enactment of The Reorganization Act 2019, the J&K Land Acquisition Act, 1990 stood repealed. Consequently, the notification issued under Section 4 of the repealed Act became redundant, and the respondents were 3 WP (C) No. 955/2025 legally obliged to initiate fresh acquisition proceedings under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (the Amended Land Acquisition Act). The petitioners have relied upon orders dated 26.02.2024 and

20.12.2024 passed by this Court in WP(C) No. 2247/2021 and WP(C) No. 2999/2024, respectively, to claim parity. This Court in “Mohd. Khalid & Ors. vs. UT of J&K & Ors.”; (WP(C) No. 2247/2021), quashed the notification dated 30.09.2019, impugned in the petition (supra) and directed the respondents to proceed with the acquisition process in accordance with the Amended Land Acquisition Act. Similarly, this Court in “Altaf Ahmed & Anr. Vs. UT of J&K & Ors. (WP(C) No. 2999/2024) reiterated the aforesaid position of law, granting liberty to the petitioners to file a representation and directed the respondents to consider and decide the same within a stipulated timeframe. Mr. Ajaz Choudhary, learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the petitioners would be satisfied if the respondents are directed to treat the present writ petition as a representation and decide the same within a specified timeframe, in line with the directions issued in the aforesaid writ petitons. Having regard to the limited nature of controversy, the present writ petition is admitted to hearing and disposed of at the threshold with a direction to the respondents to treat and consider the present writ petition as a representation and decide the same within a period of

4 WP (C) No. 955/2025 six weeks, after affording an opportunity of being heard to the petitioners, from the date a copy of this order, along with a copy of the writ petition and its annexures, is made available to them. Till then, respondents shall maintain status quo with respect to structures, shops and residential houses over the subject land.