Srinagar- The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass any order seeking a stay on a circular issued by the Jammu & Kashmir government directing deputy commissioners (DCs) to remove encroachments on State Land including Roshni and Kacharie land by January this month.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar, though expressed its disclination in not passing an order today, it orally asked the Union Territory to not demolish any houses, legal website Live Law.in reported Friday.
“We are not passing any order today. You instruct them orally not to demolish any houses. But we will not grant a general stay…. others should not get benefit”, the bench orally told the counsel of J&K.
During the hearing, the advocate for the petitioner argued that many tribals are residing on the land and took the Court through the reliefs prayed for.
“If stay is granted then it will benefit land grabbers also?”, Justice Shah asked.
The counsel appearing for the Union Territory clarified that the circular is mainly focused on the Roshni land. He also questioned the locus of the applicants.
“The Application was served on me yesterday. It does not even mention that the applicants live there”, he pointed out while adding that the said land only had shops and such establishments. The Court then adjourned the matter. The matter was mentioned before the Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, this week.
Pertinently, on January 9, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Revenue Department issued an order directing all the DCs to ensure 100% removal of encroachments from state land, including Roshni and Kahcharai by January 31.
Bidhuri had also listed a set of instructions for effective monitoring of the anti-encroachment drive.
According to the order, DCs were asked to furnish daily reports by 4 pm while Divisional Commissioners were asked to furnish the compiled reports through Financial Commissioner Revenue, J&K by 5 pm to the Administrative Department Revenue in a given format.
According to the given formats for State Land including Roshni, besides Kahcharai the DCs were directed to submit details of total encroached land as on the day, encroachment removed day wise, balance encroachment to be removed and percentage of encroachment yet to be removed.
983 Kanal Govt Land Retrieved In Ganderbal
Continuing its ongoing anti-encroachment drive, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday retrieved nearly 1000 kanal state and Kahcharai land in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
Acting tough against illegal land encroachers, the District Administration Ganderbal retrieved 983 kanals of state and Kahcharie land across the district, an official spokesperson said Friday. In the last two days, he said, over 1701 kanal of land has been freed from encroachment.
“The total retrieved land has increased to 13431 Kanals throughout the district and so-far 56 percent of State land and over 47 percent of Kahcharai land has been retrieved during anti-encroachment drives in the district,” he added.
Meanwhile, 4021 kanal state and Kahcharai land has been retrieved from encroachers across Kupwara district since the drive started, official spokesperson said.
Giving further details, he said, 301 kanal of Kahcharai land has been retrieved in Drugmulla tehsil which includes 276 kanal single patch of land and 25 kanal which was used for commercial purposes.
Likewise, 280 kanal of land have been retrieved during the drive till date in Kupwara tehsil, including 205 kanal Kahcharai and 75 kanal state land.
“In Keran tehsil, 712 kanals of land have been retrieved as per Tehsildar Keran, which include 617 kanals of state land and 95 kanals of kahcharie land,” the spokesperson said.
In Vilgam tehsil of Kupwara district, he said, 1863 kanals, including 758 state land and 1105 kanal Kahchari have been retrieved till date.
Likewise, in Kralpora Tehsil, he said, 247 kanal of land have been retrieved in the tehsil which include 142 kanals state and 105 kanal Kacharie land.
In Sogam and Lalpora tehsils, 114 kanal and 14 marlas of land have been retrieved from Dardpora Lolab, 20 kanals from Chandigam and 20 kanals from Sogam tehsil.
“Similarly, 70 kanals of kahcharari/ state land have been retrieved from Trehgam tehsil, 50 kanals in Karnah Tehsil, 46 kanal 15 marlas in Handwara tehsil, 26 kanal 5 marlas in Zachaldara tehsil, 5 kanals in Taratpora tehsil , 80 kanals in Langate, 70 kanals in Qalamabad tehsil and 116 kanals in Qaziabad-kralgund tehsil during the ongoing drive against land encroachers,” the spokesperson added.
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