Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 20: Close on the heels of Jammu Development Authority seeking demarcation of 66,000 kanals of land transferred to it only on papers more than a decade back, confusion has prevailed over the status of 2813 kanals of prime land at Belicharana due to slackness of the field staff of the Revenue Department.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that in the recent past Samadhan Kendra in the office of Deputy Commissioner Jammu received an information regarding encroachment on the JDA land in Belicharana, which falls under the revenue village Rakh Raipur.
Accordingly, the Samadhan Kendra forwarded the information to the Vice-Chairperson, JDA to ascertain the genuineness of the same. Even the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, who also came to know about the encroachments on land at Belicharana, sought status report from the JDA VC.
When JDA started looking into the issue, confusion prevailed over the status of 2813 kanals and 10 marlas of land at Belicharana, which was transferred to JDA under the provisions of J&K State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 read along with SRO 263 dated August 9, 2004, sources said.
“As per the Revenue Department record, this land is spread across Khasra Nos. 55, 56 and 235. However, in the absence of any authentic demarcation, which otherwise should have been a logical consequence to the land transfer on papers, it is not possible to ascertain the exact location of the JDA land”, sources said.
“In the absence of exact status of such a huge chunk of land, the possibilities of Doda Basti and Bashir Colony already established in the area, existing on the land transferred to JDA cannot be ruled out”, sources said, adding “there are also reports that these colonies are existing much prior to 2004 when the land was transferred to JDA on papers”.
Holding inordinate delay in demarcation of such a huge chunk of prime land responsible for confusion over its status, sources said, “any substantial conclusion can be arrived at only after authentic demarcation is carried out by the Revenue Department authorities on priority basis in order to clarify whether these colonies are on the Khasras transferred to JDA as well as year of construction”.
In order to ensure time bound action on demarcation, the JDA has also moved application under Public Service Guarantee Act before the designated officer (Naib Tehsildar concerned).
Meanwhile, construction work going on in Doda Basti and Bashir Colony has been got stopped and FIR lodged with the Police Post Belicharana against the concerned persons.
The Chief Khilafwarzi Officer has also issued notices under Building Operation Controlling Authority (BOCA) to all such persons, who are constructing houses/complexes without seeking prior building permission for the same, which is mandated for JDA limits, sources said, adding “after completion of legal procedure violators will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of law”.
“Even if the transferred land is not demarcated, the JDA, under the Civic Laws Special Provisions Act, has the powers to take action in case of under construction structures in the areas under its jurisdiction”, they said.
When contacted, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Shantmanu admitted that proper demarcation of the entire land transferred to JDA was imperative in order to protect the same from the encroachers and bring end to the confusion.
“I have decided to formulate a committee within next few days so that demarcation exercise is set into motion”, he said in response to a question, adding “JDA will be asked to identify the land which is required to be demarcated on priority”.
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