Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Apr 19: In clear violations of norms, the Jammu and Kashmir Custodial General has favored an evacuee property holder by extending his lease period illegally and allowing him to hold multiple properties against norms of the Evacuee Property rules.
A property belonging to Evacuee Department at Hyderpora has been allotted to one Riyaz Ahmad Khan, son of Mohammad Hashim Khan, who is already in possession of a similar property at Residency Road Jammu.
The person has been allotted four shops- 25, 26, 30 and 31- of Evacuee Property at Hyderpora and allowed to brook divider walls which violates both rules and agreement.
Riyaz Ahmad Khan was allotted these four more properties (4 shops) besides already holding an evacuee property illegally in Jammu. The property located at Vir Marg, Residency Road Jammu was allotted to Mohammad Ismail Khan. Ismail passed away in 2006 and the property was supposed to be allotted to his two sons Mohammad Hashim Khan and Mohammad Yasin Khan.
But in contravention of laid down rules and regulations, Mohammad Yasin Khan was illegally thrown out of the property in league with Custodian Jammu and it was illegally allotted to Mohammad Hashim Khan and his son Riyaz Ahmad Khan.
On December 28, 2018 the Khan duo got this residential property changed into commercial and the rent has been fixed just Rs 5,000 per month. The Custodian General has thus showered favours to Khans at the cost of State exchequer.
The Custodian General had been very kind to Riayz Ahmad Khan and had allotted him another Evacuee property in Samba district but it was later on cancelled due to series of complaints. “The custodian vide order dated 16.10.2017 canceled the allotment of evacuee property under survey number 328/165 for the residential purpose at Rajpur Kullar in Samba district”, read the cancellation order.
Not only this, Khan’s four shops at Hyderpora have been leased for a period of 40 years instead of 20. As per norms, the evacuee property cannot be allotted for more than 20 years which points towards the misuse of power by Custodian General. “The lease period shall be 20 in the first instance and the maximum period shall not exceed 99 years”, read Rule 13-B of Evacuee Property Act.
Another favour to lessee is that he had been asked to pay the premium of Rs 60 lakh in 36 installments. Out of this, the lessee has only paid Rs 35 lakh in the last three years. For the remaining Rs 25 lakh, the lessee requested for two more years for the deposition of the pending premium.
The department has now given him one more year to deposit the rest amount. “…the lessee may be allowed to clear outstanding of the said premium amount within a period of one year and liquidate the same by ending December 2019”, reads order of Custodian General of 23-03-2019.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
