Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Aug 17
India’s Supreme Court has directed the Jammu and Kashmir administration to pay compensation for land taken more than seven decades ago to build a police station, while also ordering payment of rentals for the government’s use of the property since 1953.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing a petition by Abdul Rashid Wani, who challenged a 2022 decision of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court that dismissed his claim due to the long delay in approaching the courts.
The disputed property measures 7 kanal and 18 marla and is located in Mouza Kangan, Ganderbal district.
According to Wani’s petition, it was taken over in 1953 for construction of a police station without formal acquisition proceedings.
The Supreme Court said it would not be appropriate to order fresh acquisition proceedings retrospectively for the period beginning in 1953 because of the extraordinary delay involved.
It nevertheless directed the land acquisition officer to initiate acquisition proceedings from 2021, the year in which Wani first approached the High Court.
The bench also ordered the authorities to calculate rental compensation for the government’s occupation and use of the property from 1953.
The ultimate amount payable towards acquisition compensation and rent will be determined by the High Court, the Supreme Court said.
Wani, represented by lawyer Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, said his predecessors had owned the property identified as survey number 525.
He sought either restoration of possession or acquisition of the land with compensation.
In the alternative, he sought payment of rent for the entire period during which the government used the property.
The High Court had rejected his petition in an order dated June 28, 2022, describing the claim as a “dead cause of action” because it had been brought roughly 68 years after the land was taken.
The High Court had also noted that Wani, who was about 42 when he approached it, had failed to adequately explain the prolonged delay.
Wani had argued that his father’s illiteracy had prevented the family from seeking legal remedies earlier.
The High Court, however, said Wani himself had become an adult more than two decades before filing the petition.
Wani also told the court that he had approached government authorities repeatedly over the previous two decades but had been unable to produce documentary evidence because records were allegedly destroyed in the devastating floods of 2014.
The J&K administration had opposed the petition, arguing that the claim was highly belated and that the police department had remained in peaceful possession of the land since 1953.
The administration had also argued that retrieving and verifying records after such a long period would be difficult.
The High Court had stressed that legal claims could not remain open indefinitely and that a cause of action had to be pursued within a reasonable period.
The Supreme Court’s order, while declining to reopen the acquisition question for the period beginning in 1953, has nevertheless opened the way for the claimant to receive compensation and rent based on the government’s prolonged use of the property.
