SRINAGAR: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Jammu and Kashmir administration to initiate land acquisition proceedings and pay compensation and rental dues for nearly eight decades of use of land that was taken over in 1953 for a police station in Kangan, Ganderbal, without any formal acquisition.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the directions while hearing a plea filed by Abdul Rashid Wani, a descendant of the original landowners.
The court said fresh acquisition proceedings could not be ordered from the present date because of the nearly seven-decade delay. However, it directed the land acquisition officer to initiate the process from 2021, when Wani approached the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.
The bench also directed the officer to calculate rental compensation payable to Wani for the use of the land from 1953. The final amount towards acquisition compensation and rentals will be determined by the high court, it said.
The dispute concerns 7 kanals and 18 marlas of land bearing survey number 525 at Mouza Kangan in Ganderbal district. According to Wani’s plea, his predecessors owned the land, which was taken over by the authorities in 1953 for construction of a police station without acquisition proceedings or payment of compensation.
Wani had sought restoration of the land or, alternatively, acquisition of the property and payment of compensation or rent for its use since 1953.
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court had dismissed his petition in June 2022, holding that the claim was filed after an unexplained delay of about 68 years.
The high court had observed that Wani, who was around 42 when he filed the petition, had not adequately explained why legal action was not initiated earlier. Wani had submitted that his father was illiterate and could not approach the courts.
He had also claimed that he had approached authorities over the preceding two decades but could not produce documents in support of those efforts, saying government records had been destroyed in the 2014 floods.
The Union Territory administration had opposed the plea, arguing that the police department had remained in peaceful possession of the property since 1953 and that it would be difficult to trace records relating to the land after such a long period.
The high court had held that allowing the claim after such prolonged delay would effectively revive a cause of action that had become stale.
The Supreme Court, however, took note of Wani’s contention that the delay should not deprive him of relief for an alleged illegal state action. It accordingly directed the authorities to proceed with acquisition from the date of his 2021 petition and to account for the land’s use since 1953 through rental compensation.
