Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 17: Division Bench of the State High Court comprising First Puisne Judge Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Sindhu Sharma has dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) filed by ex-Minister Thakur Randhir Singh against the judgment passed by the Single Judge on August 13, 2018 and granted six months time for handing over the possession of the Government accommodation to the competent authority.
When the LPA came up for hearing, Advocates S C Gupta and Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed appearing for the appellant Thakur Randhir Singh submitted, “the appellant as well as his wife are more than 80 years of age and presently the appellant is admitted in a hospital and they have no other accommodation where they can shift”.
“The flat in question is the property of Evacuee Department which was taken on hire by the Government and then allotted to different persons. Some of the houses have been returned back by the State to the Evacuee Department, which in turn had been allotted by the Evacuee Department and in some cases to the same persons. The same process can be followed even in the case of the appellant”, they further submitted.
“As due process under the J&K Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1988 was not followed before directing eviction of the appellant the impugned order has to go”, they said.
On the other hand AAG Amit Gupta appearing for the Estates Department submitted that to be fair to the appellant who is a senior citizen, he can persuade the department to grant three months’ time to the appellant to vacate the premises. He referred to Para 40 of the Division Bench judgment in Ajay Kumar Sadhotra’s case to submit that the then Advocate General had assured that all the unauthorized occupants of the Government accommodation shall be evicted in terms of the report of the committee and the appellant has not been able to establish his right to retain possession of the property.
While upholding the judgment of the Single Judge and dismissing the appeal filed by ex-Minister, the DB granted six months’ time to the appellant to handover the possession of the flat to the competent authority.
Follow our WhatsApp channel