Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 7: Observing that every inch of Historical Canal ‘Shah Kul’ will be retrieved and the stream be restored to its original position, the High Court has sought the documental proof of ownership of land from the persons against whom allegations of encroachment are made and sought personal appearance of Director Land Records (DLR) and Executive engineer (I&FC) Department who has failed to provide actual position of the stream.
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The Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal today reiterated that the ‘Shah Kul’ which is the source of water supply to famous Nishat Garden be restored to its original position and every encroachment on it will be removed.
The court before proceeding further has directed all the persons whose names as encroachers have been shown in the PIL to produce the sale deeds with site plan on the date of execution of deeds vide which they purchased the land which they claim to be in possession. The court further directed them to produce the revenue extracts of predecessors before the execution of sale deeds with a period of 4 days in order to see the position of the land before execution of any sale deed.
The court has taken serious note of DLR’s failure to submit the demarcation report of the area as directed and sought his personal appearance on the next date of hearing. The court has also sought personal appearance of the Executive Engineer (I&FC) department for filing an ambiguous response.
The court has also warned the Commissioner SMC, Chief Engineer R&B department and SHO Police Station Nishat that appropriate orders would follow in the event they failed to submit their reports before the court on the next date of hearing.
The PIL sought the court’s intervention for the removal of all illegal encroachments and restoration of the original status of the historical canal and directions for the restoration of adjoining roads allegedly encroached upon by some private persons.
The bench observed that it will in the first instance deal with the encroachments of the historical stream and its restoration, thereafter the alleged encroachments on roads in the said area would be dealt with
A communication by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir to Directorate Land Records way back in 2004 also stated that ‘Shah Kaul’ has been encroached upon, resulting in loss of lakhs of rupees because the water required for Nishat Garden is being now lifted through mechanical pumps. “Since two decades have passed but no action is on ground till date”, the court said.
The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, had at that time sought the removal of all types of encroachments on the canal and directed appropriate action against the culprits. However, no action has been taken.
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