Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 22: High Court held that the landowner cannot be divested of his properiety by the Government and its functionaries and directed the authorities to expeditiously initiate the acquisition process of land as occupied by the education department 20 year ago and determine the compensation payable to the owners of the land.
Justice M A Chowdhary allowed the plea of the petitioners who claim to be joint owners in possession of a piece of land measuring 01 Kanal and 06 Marlas situated at village Naina, Gund Baba Khalil, Tehsil Bijbehara, District Anantnag.
Their contention before the court was that the land in question was occupied by the Respondents for construction of Government High School without acquiring the same in terms of the Land Acquisition Act.
The Respondent-authorities have filed their Objections/ Reply in opposition to the plea of the land owners, stating therein that the aforesaid land was donated by the locals of the area to the Education Department in the year 2006 purely on charitable grounds and the petitioners, never claimed any compensation for the donated land until the death of their predecessor who died in the year 2012.
“The landholder cannot be divested of his landed estate by the Government or its functionaries, without resorting to its acquisition or payment of compensation and even a delayed claim for compensation cannot be turned down”, Justice Chowdhary has held.
The court directed the authorities to immediately and forthwith initiate the process of acquisition of the land in question, in accordance with “The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013”, within a period of four weeks and determine the compensation payable to the owners of the subject land under possession of the School Education Department and thereafter the compensation be paid to the Petitioners, expeditiously.
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