73 years on, SC orders compensation for land taken for Jammu and Kashmir police station

The Supreme Court directed the Jammu and Kashmir administration to compensate a landowner and pay rentals for land forcibly taken in 1953 to build a police station in Kangan without acquisition or compensation. The court ordered acquisition proceedings from 2021 and rental calculation since 1953

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to pay compensation and rentals to one of the descendants of farmers whose land was forcibly taken more than 73 years ago for setting up a police station at Kangan in Ganderbal without any acquisition proceedings.

Land measuring seven kanals and 18 marlas at Kangan was forcibly taken over for constructing a police station way back in 1953 without acquiring it and without paying the compensation.

---

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of the plea of one Abdul Rashid Wani who approached the top court through lawyer Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki to challenge the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court’s 2022 decision.

The high court had dismissed a writ petition seeking possession of land taken over for a police station in Ganderbal district in 1953, holding that the claim suffered from gross and unexplained delay of 68 years. On Monday, the top court considered the fervent pleas of Wani that though there was a delay, he should not suffer on account of state action which was illegal.

The apex court said it cannot direct fresh land acquisition proceedings as on date due to the delay of nearly seven decades. The bench, however, said that it will direct the land acquisition officer to commence the land acquisition proceedings from the date Wani approached the high court in 2021. Coming to the rescue of Wani, the bench directed the land acquisition officer to calculate and award the rentals to Wani from 1953 when the land was forcibly taken over for setting up of the police station.

The amount on account of land acquisition and the rentals will be finally decided by the high court, the bench said. On June 28, 2022, a division bench of the high court had declined to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction in the matter, saying that the petitioner could not be permitted to revive what had effectively become a “dead cause of action” after such a prolonged period. Wani had claimed that his predecessors were owners of 7 kanals and 18 marlas of land bearing survey no. 525 at Mouza Kangan in Ganderbal district.

According to the petition, the land was taken over for a police station in 1953 without formal acquisition or payment of compensation. He sought either restoration of possession or initiation of acquisition proceedings and payment of compensation or rental compensation for the use and occupation of the land since 1953.

The high court noted that the alleged takeover had occurred about 68 years before the filing of the petition and that the petitioner, around 42 years old, had not explained why the matter was brought before the court after such an inordinate delay.

The petitioner had argued that his father was illiterate and therefore could not approach the court earlier.The high court, however, did not accept the explanation, noting that the petitioner himself had attained maturity more than two decades earlier but had still failed to seek legal redress.

The high court had also noted that the petitioner claimed to have approached the authorities during the preceding 20 years but was unable to produce any supporting documents, citing the destruction of government records during the 2014 floods.

The UT administration had opposed the petition as highly belated, stating that the police department had remained in peaceful possession of the land since 1953 and that, after such a long period, it was difficult to produce records relating to the property. “Every cause of action should come to an end within a time bound period and should not be allowed to remain alive infinitely,” the high court had said.