Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 23: The High Court has allowed the appeal of land owners against judgment of writ court whereby their claim for compensation was rejected citing they had approached the court at a belated stage.
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The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar has set aside the writ court judgment and directed the concerned authorities to immediately initiate the process of acquisition in accordance with law and determine the compensation of the land which is in occupation of the Government of J&K Rural Development Department (RDD).
The Division Bench further directed the authorities that the process of acquisition and compensation be initiated within a period of four weeks from the date a copy of this judgment is served upon the respondents and shall be concluded as per the timeline given in the Act of 2013.
“A direction is given to the respondents to immediately and forthwith initiate the process of acquisition in accordance with ‘The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act as per the timeline given in the Act of 2013”, read the judgment.
The court has recorded that authorities are not permitted to raise plea of adverse possession over property of citizens forcibly occupied without due process of law
“The State cannot be permitted to perfect its title over the land by invoking the doctrine of adverse possession to denude its owner of his right qua the property. The plea of delay and laches cannot be raised in case of a continuing cause of action”, the court observed.
The bench said that so long as the State remains in unauthorized possession of landed property of its citizens taken possession of by it without following due process of law, the cause of action to seek restoration of possession or compensation in lieu thereof would arise every-day. “The Constitutional Court exercising its writ jurisdiction may also ignore the delay if the circumstances of the case shock the judicial conscience of the Court”.
The facts of the case are that the predecessor-in-interest of the Appellants was the owner in possession of subject land which, on his death, devolved upon them. The subject land, as per the revenue record, continues to be reflected in the ownership of appellant-owners though under occupation/physical possession of the Department of Rural Development.
The subject land was taken possession of by the Rural Development somewhere prior to 1958-59 for construction of Block building in Bandipora without following any due process of law (land acquisition process) and without payment of any compensation.
The actual owner-Namdaar Jan who in the year 1958-59 did not agitate the matter with regard to the illegal possession of the Rural Development Department over his land nor did he lay a claim for compensation before any authority during his lifetime. It was only in the year 2013, the Appellants approached the Deputy Commissioner, Bandipora by way of a written representation seeking compensation of the subject land under the occupation of the Rural Development Department.
The Court at the outset observed that there is also no whisper in the communications written by different authorities for processing the request of the Appellants for payment of compensation to the extent that subject land was ever donated or voluntarily given by the predecessor-in-interest of the Appellants to the Rural Development Department for construction of its office of Block Development Officer.
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