HC orders Rs 10 lakh punitive compensation, action against delinquents

Srinagar, May 10: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has imposed as “punitive compensation,” Rs 10 Lakh to the Forest department for demolishing a property in Jammu without any authority of law and ordered action against the delinquent officials.

A bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal imposed the compensation while dealing with Abdul Majid Bathindi’s plea wherein the 79-year-old said that he constructed a restaurant after obtaining necessary permissions in 2012.

His contention was that Tehsildar Jammu cancelled the mutations without notice and that the Forest Department subsequently demolished the structure in 2022, alleging encroachment on the forest land.

The Court directed the respondents (authorities) to pay the petitioner a punitive compensation to the tune of Rs 10,00,000 as an interim measures which, it said, would be in addition to the compensation by way of damages to the tune of ?76,40,200 which has been assessed and is being granted by the Court for demolishing the property of the petitioner without any authority of law.

Besides, the court directed the Chief Secretary of J&K to conduct an in-depth inquiry within a period of two months and take suitable action including penal measures on the basis of the findings of the enquiry to ensure accountability of individual officers who have acted in violation of the law in the instant case.

In its judgment passed, the Court underscored that the “arbitrary and unilateral actions of the former State, now Union Territory, cannot be countenanced, as “the state, now the UT” has failed to adhere to the due process of law and has attempted to revisit an issue that was conclusively resolved in 1958, when the predecessors-in-interest were designated as tenants-at-will, and later when proprietary rights were granted pursuant to a Government Order in

1966, which facilitated the attestation of mutations and the registration of sale deeds.

“Consequently, this Court believes that the officials of the “State, now UT,” who execute or endorse such unlawful actions should face disciplinary measures, and their illegal transgressions should result in criminal as well as disciplinary repercussions, as public accountability for public officials must be the norm.”