*Over 13 lakh kanals still under control of ‘mafia’ across J&K
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 11: Though the Government is claiming to have launched vigorous drive against the encroachers of State land in the length and breadth of Jammu and Kashmir on the directions of the High Court, over 13 lakh kanals of land is still under the control of ‘mafia’ and no time-frame has been fixed for tightening noose around them.
This can be gauged from the status reports submitted by the Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu to the State High Court in pursuance to the directions issued in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which is based on the report carried by EXCELSIOR.
The Division Bench of State High Court vide order dated February 22, 2017 had asked both the Divisional Commissio-ners and all other concerned to file status reports indicating the persons against whom eviction proceedings have been commenced and status thereof in each case.
Accordingly, both the Divisional Commissioners forwarded the court direction to all the Deputy Commissioners of both the provinces asking them to furnish the details in a time bound manner.
As per the status report submitted by the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr M K Bhandari, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, a total of 4.22 lakh kanals of State land has been retrieved after removal of encroachments in 10 districts of Jammu province.
A total of 34141 kanals and 11 marlas of land is claimed to have been retrieved in Jammu district, 27323 kanals and 8 marlas in Udhampur, 160321 kanals and 11 marlas in Rajouri, 27323 kanals and 8 marlas in Poonch, 23055 kanals and 15 marlas in Samba, 21984 kanals and 10 marlas in Reasi, 46299 kanals and 4 marlas in Ramban, 18688 kanals and 2 marlas in Kishtwar, 12687 kanals and 7 marlas in Kathua and 50550 kanals and 15 marlas in Doda district.
Similarly, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Ahmed Khan in the status report has claimed that 467 kanals and 8 marlas of land has been retrieved in Srinagar district while as in Ganderbal district 1301 persons have been issued notices under land laws. In Budgam district, 357 kanals and 19 marlas of State land has been retrived while as in Bandipora district 118 kanals and 9 marlas of land has been retrieved besides issuance of notices to 14 persons.
A total of 664 kanals and 4 marlas of land has been retrieved in Kupwara district where notices have also been issued to 3525 persons while as 5846 kanals of land has been retrieved in Baramulla district where 2407 persons were also issued notices of eviction. In Anantnag district, 585 kanals and 15 marlas of land has been retrieved while as in Kulgam district 1541 kanals and 16 marlas of land has been retrieved.
As per the status report of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, 468 persons have been issued notices in Shopian, 2831 persons in Pulwama and 250 persons in Kulgam district.
The perusal of these status reports clearly reveals that eviction drive is going on at a snail’s pace in Kashmir valley despite explicit directions from the Division Bench of State High Court.
On February 22, 2017 Advocate General Jahangir Iqbal Ganai had submitted before the Division Bench of the High Court that in Kashmir valley a total of 3.39 lakh kanals of Kahcharai and 3.77 lakh kanals of State land was under encroachment. Against total 7.16 lakh kanals of encroached land only 9578 kanals of land has been retrieved till date and this clearly substantiates that directions of the High Court have yet not been taken seriously.
As far as Jammu region is concerned, the Advocate General had stated that a total of 10.40 lakh kanals of State land was under encroachment. Against this, 4.22 lakh kanals of land has been retrieved as per the status report of the Divisional Commissioner Jammu which means that over 6 lakh kanals of land is still under the control of ‘mafia’.
The status reports of both the Divisional Commissioners are, however, silent about any time-frame fixed for retrieval of remaining land, which otherwise is imperative so as to achieve the intent of the Public Interest Litigation and directions of the High Court passed from time to time.
It is pertinent to mention here that on February 22, 2017 the Division Bench of the High Court had also wanted to know from the Divisional Commissioners as to how much time they will require to complete the exercise of retrieval of entire land from the encroachers. The DB had also observed that removal of encroachments and unauthorized occupation was a task to be executed by the concerned departments.
Accordingly, the DB had impressed upon all the concerned that the task, given its seriousness and magnitude, shall be promptly executed though in accordance with law.
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