PIL highlighting allotment scam of Municipal shops, flats
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 29: In the much publicised PIL filed by a practising lawyer Irtiza Mushtaq Salaria highlighting illegal allotment of shops, flats, garages and other assets by Jammu Municipal Corporation, Government today informed the Division Bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul that policy on the subject will be finalized within one week.
Senior AAG S S Nanda appearing for Commissioner/ Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department further assured the Division Bench that Government will comply the directions issued on August, 11, 2020 by filing the complete data regarding the list of all properties of H&UDD in J&K and details of the persons in possession and also the details regarding Rules and Regulations under which these properties were allotted.
Earlier, when the PIL came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan, Mohd Zulkarnan Chowdhary and Muzzaffar Ali Shah submitted that draft policy regarding allotment of Municipal flats, quarters and other assets of JMC was forwarded to H&UDD in November, 2019 and there is no headway in the matter because H&UDD is taking the matter causally/non-seriously.
He further submitted that Municipal assets worth crores of rupees were distributed on pick and choose basis when there should have been a rational criteria governing allotments. He further submitted that H&UDD since March 10, 2020 is not furnishing the list of properties belonging to the department in J&K and despite imposition of costs of Rs 5000 on the last date of hearing the requisite information has not been placed before the Division Bench.
Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing for JMC, however, submitted that JMC is awaiting the Policy which is pending approval with H&UDD and the moment the Policy gets approval, the JMC will swing into action to retrieve its assets and will also charge the rent as per current market rates.
After hearing both the sides, the Division Bench allowed two weeks time to Senior AAG S S Nanda to place before the court the compliance of the directions.
Senior Advocate R K Gupta with Advocate Udhay Bhaskar, Advocate Abhinav Sharma and Advocate Adarsh Sharma also caused appearance on behalf of the allottees of Municipal flats through virtual mode.
Follow our WhatsApp channel