Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 19: Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Tashi Rabstan has treated a news item captioned “Gujjar Basti: Offenders including officials involved in 4th Tawi Bridge damage roam free” as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and issued notice to Director General of Police, Commissioner Secretary to Government, Public Works Department and Vice-Chairman, Jammu Development Authority to show cause as to why the petition be not admitted for hearing.
“A report of newspaper has been brought to our notice by Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi and this report highlights the manner in which parapet of Tawi Bridge has been broken to provide complete unauthorized passage to illegal encroachments “, the DB said, adding
“such intervention on bridges is completed impermissible and the act of damaging the parapet tantamount to cause damage to the public property and would be penal offence as well”.
The DB further observed, “the matter is of an extremely serious nature, inasmuch as not only the property is being damaged, but also, damage is effected to facilitate the encroachments on public land. Certainly, damaging the bridge to provide illegal access to such encroachment is a crime of the worst nature. This matter deserves cognizance in public interest”.
The DB directed the respondents to ensure that damage to the Tawi Bridge is repaired at the earliest.
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