Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 1: Bringing the curtains down on a prolonged legal tussle, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed a writ petition in the Kathua land resumption case, describing it as an “abuse of process of court” and directed the petitioners to pay Rs 20,000 as costs.
Justice Sanjay Dhar, while pronouncing judgment, observed that the petitioners were attempting to reopen issues that had been conclusively settled nearly two decades ago under the J&K Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976.
The dispute pertained to agricultural land in village Ramnagar, district Kathua, where the petitioners were recorded as tenants and the private respondents as landlords. In 2004, the Tehsildar attested mutation No. 360 under Section 7 of the Agrarian Reforms Act, allowing the landlords to resume the land.
That order survived successive challenges before the appellate authority, the J&K Special Tribunal, the High Court’s Single Bench, and finally the Division Bench in 2007. Despite this, the petitioners continued to litigate, filing suits and writs to stall implementation of the resumption order.
The judge noted that the petitioners had managed to delay enforcement of the order for over 20 years. “It appears to be a case of abuse of process of court… the petitioners, by their litigious conduct, have succeeded in avoiding implementation of the order for more than two decades, thereby making a mockery of the process of law,” Justice Dhar observed.
The High Court dismissed the writ petition with Rs 20,000 costs, directing that the amount be deposited in the Advocates’ Welfare Fund within one month. If not deposited, recovery proceedings would follow.
A related contempt petition (CCP(S) No. 258/2025) was also closed, as the interim orders stood merged with the final judgment.
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