Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 23: Taking serious note of non-cooperation of Police Department, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal today directed Inspector General of Police Jammu to provide police assistance on permanent basis to JDA and Revenue Department for carrying out demarcation of 66437 kanals of land in Jammu and Samba districts.
EXCELSIOR in its today’s edition has exclusively highlighted that police was reluctant to extend assistance for JDA land demarcation despite explicit directions from the High Court. In the report, several instances were also quoted.
The Division Bench has also directed the IGP to hold an enquiry with regard to the incidents of non-cooperation from Police Department reflected in the Miscellaneous Petition filed by Jammu Development Authority and submit report before the adjourned date of hearing.
The highest court of the State further directed Advocate Adarsh Sharma appearing for JDA to file a status report before the next date indicating the total land demarcated as per the court directions and also the quantum of the land retrieved from the encroachers. Even Deputy Advocate General Ahsan Mirza was directed to provide a copy of the Compact Disc (CD) to Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed appearing for the petitioner, filed by the Divisional Commissioner Jammu highlighting the total State land retrieved in various districts of Jammu province.
All these directions were issued in the open court by Justice Alok Aradhe.
Earlier, when the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed submitted land mafia has gone hyper-active to thwart the process of demarcation as the Jammu Development Authority has leveled serious allegations against the police authorities for siding with the land mafia in the fresh Miscellaneous Petition
He also drew the attention of Division Bench towards order dated December 10, 2014 passed by the DB headed by the then Chief Justice M M Kumar whereby DGP was directed to send police help through various agencies for carrying out the demarcation of the JDA land.
Advocate Adarsh Sharma appearing for Jammu Development Authority explained in detail the difficulties being faced by the JDA in carrying out the demarcation of a huge chunk of land. “Without permanent police protection it won’t be possible to carry out this marathon demarcation exercise against land mafia”, he added.
Advocate Rameshwar Singh Jamwal submitted that despite identification of the encroachers by the JDA nothing has been done to evict them. “Till date even the eviction notices have not been issued to the encroachers”, he added.
However, Advocate Adarsh Sharma submitted that in absence of the police help nothing can be done in this regard.
Meanwhile, a Police Department spokesman said that SSPs of Jammu and Samba districts have already issued clear directions to the SHOs to provide police assistance to the joint teams of Revenue Department and JDA so as to facilitate them in carrying out demarcation of land.
“It is only due to the assistance provided by the police that JDA has been able to retrieve huge chunk of land particularly in Samba district recently”, the spokesman added.
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