Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 18: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has granted relief to a migrant industrial unit, M/s Sports Goods Industry, while censuring the official respondents for what it described as unfair and inequitable treatment in relation to allotment of an industrial shed in Srinagar and the subsequent handling of the matter.
Justice Rahul Bharti, while deciding petition filed by M/s Sports Goods Industry Vs State of J&K and others, held that the petitioner, a registered small-scale industrial unit, had been allotted Shed No. 5 at Bagh-i-Ali Mardan Khan Industrial Area, Srinagar, where it was engaged in manufacture of wooden and joinery items, carpet looms and sports goods.
The High Court noted that the proprietor of the concern had migrated from Kashmir to Jammu during the 1990 turmoil for safety of life and limb, leading to abandonment of the industrial activity at the site.
The High Court further recorded that the petitioner’s unit was later extensively damaged in a fire in 1991, but the real grievance arose when the very same industrial shed originally allotted to the petitioner came to be allotted to another person, compelling the petitioner to approach the High Court earlier as well.
Though the Court had earlier directed allotment of a similar shed, the subsequent compliance by the authorities was found to be illusory, as the petitioner was asked to pay premium and enhanced rent on terms different from those applicable to the original allotment.
The petitioner again faced a setback when even the alternate allotment at Rangret was cancelled by the respondents, resulting in the filing of the present writ petition challenging the cancellation order and seeking restoration of rights.
In its significant observations, the High Court held that the State and its instrumentalities were under a solemn obligation to protect and preserve the petitioner’s leasehold rights, especially when the proprietor had been forced to flee Kashmir during disturbed conditions. The High Court said the authorities, instead of acting as protectors of the petitioner’s property, acted as a “predator”, exploiting the absence of the migrant proprietor and prejudicing his vested rights.
The High Court also observed that the principles of natural justice were thrown to the winds, and that in the turmoil of the relevant period, the petitioner could not have been expected to return to Kashmir and resume industrial activity when personal safety itself was under threat. The High Court found that the authorities failed to appreciate this reality before cancelling the allotment and re-allotting the shed to another beneficiary.
Disposing of the writ petition, Justice Bharti directed the official respondents to carry forward allotment of two sheds at Industrial Estate, Rangret in favour of the petitioner, if those sheds are still available and vacant, and if not, to provide new ones. The High Court made it clear that the allotment shall be made without charging any premium, and that the petitioner shall not be saddled with any arrears. It further directed that rent shall be payable only prospectively from the date the petitioner actually enters into use and occupation of the allotted sheds.
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