SRINAGAR: The government on Thursday said that around 5000 kanals of custodian land have been retrieved across Kashmir in the last two years and that the people whose property is being illegally occupied by the land grabbers should approach the department to take a due course in this regard.
Quoting custodian Evacuee Property Department, Kashmir, Tariq Hussain Naik news agency KNO reported that the department has been putting every effort to identify the custodian land that has been notified years ago.
“We have been working from the last two years to ascertain how much land is notified and how much land is in the records in the Revenue department. Almost 80 per cent of our reconciliation has been completed with the Revenue Department so far,” he said. He also added that so far, the department has been able to retrieve around 5000 kanals of custodian land in different districts across Kashmir.
He added that there is a misconception and to end it, the people should know that the custodian land is only a private property. “We are retrieving the land and the process under Evacuee Act is being followed. If a property is notified once, it will remain so until and unless somebody will not claim the land through proper procedure,” he said.
Stating that the retrieval of custodian land at present is not new, but it is a continuous process; however, he said that nobody will be displaced or disturbed anywhere.
“As per the procedure, if a structure is being raised anywhere illegally on the custodian land, we demolish it, but if a structure is already raised years ago, then we have a provision for that and we will have to notify it following which the rent is being fixed,” he said.
He also said that if the land of any person has been grabbed illegally by anyone, he or she should approach the department and a due course will be taken as per the provision of the Act to restore the property under section 14 of the Evacuee Property Act.
Srinagar, Feb 09: The government on Thursday said that around 5000 kanlas of custodian land have been retrieved across Kashmir in the last two years and that the people whose property is being illegally occupied by the land grabbers should approach the department to take a due course in this regard.
Custodian Evacuee Property Department, Kashmir, Tariq Hussain Naik while talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) exclusively, said the department has been putting every effort to identify the custodian land that has been notified years ago.
“We have been working from the last two years to ascertain how much land is notified and how much land is in the records in the Revenue department. Almost 80 per cent of our reconciliation has been completed with the Revenue Department so far,” he said. He also added that so far, the department has been able to retrieve around 5000 kanals of custodian land in different districts across Kashmir.
He added that there is a misconception and to end it, the people should know that the custodian land is only a private property. “We are retrieving the land and the process under Evacuee Act is being followed. If a property is notified once, it will remain so until and unless somebody will not claim the land through proper procedure,” he said.
Stating that the retrieval of custodian land at present is not new, but it is a continuous process; however, he said that nobody will be displaced or disturbed anywhere.
“As per the procedure, if a structure is being raised anywhere illegally on the custodian land, we demolish it, but if a structure is already raised years ago, then we have a provision for that and we will have to notify it following which the rent is being fixed,” he said.
He also said that if the land of any person has been grabbed illegally by anyone, he or she should approach the department and a due course will be taken as per the provision of the Act to restore the property under section 14 of the Evacuee Property Act—(KNO)
SRINAGAR: The Anantnag administration on Thursday took possession of a commercial building constructed on the State land in the Srigufwara area of the district, allegedly belonging to a BJP leader.
BJP Leader’s Commercial Building On State Land Seized
Quoting an official the news agency KNO reported that Sofi Yousuf—who is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party—has encroached 25 marlas of State land at Srigufwara, Bijbehera, by raising a commercial building.
“The two-storey commercial building comprises eleven shops,” he said.
Today, the concerned officials visited the spot, took possession of the building and handed it over to the Rural Development Department (RDD) Kashmir for public use, the official said.
Meanwhile, Sofi Yousuf claimed he has valid documents of the land. “I can produce them before the concerned authorities,” he said.
Anantnag, Feb 09: The Anantnag administration on Thursday took possession of a commercial building constructed on the State land in the Srigufwara area of the district, allegedly belonging to a BJP leader.
An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that Sofi Yousuf—who is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party—has encroached 25 marlas of State land at Srigufwara, Bijbehera, by raising a commercial building.
“The two-storey commercial building comprises eleven shops,” he said.
Today, the concerned officials visited the spot, took possession of the building and handed it over to the Rural Development Department (RDD) Kashmir for public use, the official said.
Meanwhile, Sofi Yousuf claimed he has valid documents of the land. “I can produce them before the concerned authorities,” he said—(KNO)
SRINAGAR: The District Administration Rajouri has launched a massive anti-encroachment drive in all Tehsils of the district and retrieved over 286875 Kanal and 14 Marlas encroached state land so far.
As per the eviction plan and on the directions of the Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, a series of anti-Encroachment drives have been conducted across the district in the past one month.
The teams of police and revenue officers/officials conducted drives in Rajouri, Darhal, Thanamandi, Nowshera, Qila Darhal, Sunderbani, Siot, Kalakote, Terayth, Beripatan, Manjakote, Moughla and Khawas .
The state land retrieved from the illegal occupants includes 7671 Kanal and 05 marla kacharai land and 279204 Kanal and 9 marlas of state land, including Roshni Land.
Deputy Commissioner, Vikas Kundal said anti-encroachment drives will continue in all the parts of the district till the entire encroached land was retrieved.
The revenue authorities have been directed to erect sign boards to earmark the land as state land, to avoid further encroachment.
Hyderabad: The Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K. Sambasiva Rao has given a call to party leaders and cadre to prepare themselves to launch struggles to ensure that poor and marginalised sections are given lands.
While speaking at a meeting of the erstwhile Rangareddy district, the secretary directed the party cadre to ensure stressing on issues pertaining to public importance and intensify the struggle so that the landless poor get their share of lands in Telangana.
He further criticised the Revenue department officials for remaining indifferent to the encroachments on government and endowment lands by ‘land sharks’.
While recalling the struggles that the CPI being the only political party that had been fighting on behalf of the poor, the secretary remarked that it was at the instance of the CPI that the parties in power distributed lands to thousands of poor in the past.
The secretary went on to criticise the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre for imposing a burden on people through steep hikes in the prices of essentials as well as petro products.
“The Central government was diluting the Constitution besides usurping the rights of people and this called for a relentless fight against the government’s anti-people policies,” urged the secretary.
Charges the occupants with the cost of land based on a 100 per cent increase on the stamp duty rates provided the proposed use comports with the land use under the master Plan, land use.
At the outset, the long overdue sustained drive for retrieval of illegally occupied state and community-oriented Shamilat lands is welcome and gratifying. In the event of its fruition, the campaign in rural areas would pave the way for not only revival but also the sustainable rejuvenation of agro-based enterprises in the pristine ecosystem.
While all sections of Society have exhibited their disinclination in joining status quoists for throwing a spanner in the endeavours of the government on this behalf, the following types of cases need the attention of the authorities in order to prevent the momentum of the campaign from getting derailed:
Before independence and thereafter, the peasantry and small farmers in cultivating possession or occupation of state land were granted tenancy rights followed by ownership rights more particularly under LB-6 and 7 of 1958 and S-432 of 1966. However, the actual beneficiaries of these initiatives were mostly from the affluent classes, bureaucrats, politicians and those having access to the corridors of governing bodies.
The purposes visualised transfer of land to downtrodden and toiling masses actually cultivating the state land but due to the menace of corruption and poverty of the prospective beneficiaries they have not been conferred with rights under relevant orders.
It is in this background that the land under their cultivating possession continues to be recorded as state land and is now being served with notices for surrendering the possession notwithstanding the fact that irrespective of attestation of the mutations or otherwise in their favour the rights have accrued in their favour which cannot be, after 65 years, aborted at this stage.
The government should Institute inquiry for finding out how people on the basis of their socio-economic status in the concerned societies and the naked fact that they have never cultivated the land themselves including their families for generations and yet conferred with the benefits of the government orders ibid, particularly in cases where the beneficiaries were not born on the cut of date or still infants and residing far away from the land usurped under the subterfuge of these orders.
The community lands brought under plantation need not be denuded but, having vested in PRIs and Urban local bodies, handed over to them with conditions for not changing the status of land except under orders of the government in individual cases on the basis of a scheme to be notified by the government, or on a valve to valve basis exchanges allowed with the proprietary land of the illegal occupants contiguous with the community lands.
Houseless and landless families in possession of state land not exceeding 02 kanals were entitled to retain the land for residential purposes under Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act. Similarly, the occupants of state or kahcharia land, used for raising a plantation or an orchard, got an option for offering equivalent proprietary land in exchange for protecting the plantations. Wherever the legal course has been followed under the Act of 1976, the JCB should not be pressed into service.
Under Common Lands (Regulations) Act the state and Shamilat land brought under its purview by extending the Abadi Deh for allotment of 05 Marla plots to landless and homeless families, the non-updation of records should not lead to declaring the allottees as illegal occupants.
The kahcharia within the territories of municipalities has ceased to be so in view of the application of urban land laws and virtual extinction of cattle rearing as a result of the change of professions by the inhabitants of new areas included in respective municipalities. Since before the earmarking of land as kahcharia the said land was actually state land and therefore owing to the factum of its non-use for grazing purposes it reverts it back to the state who, after determining its use, if any, by the state, charges the occupants with the cost of land based on 100 per cent increase on the stamp duty rates provided the proposed use comports with the land use under the master Plan, land use.
Street vendors markets have come up in metropolitan and other cities under the orders of the Apex courts for the rehabilitation of unauthorised street vendors and therefore on the strength of the same rationale the rehabilitation of the existing vendors is called for, those who are currently fearing demolitions and seizer of the properties
Lateef U Zaman Deva
The instruments of the State, wherever holding any immovable property as custodians under any law for the time being in force and the same suffering from encroachments, should be provided paraphernalia and wherewithal for retrieval of their properties and in fact, like state and Shamilat Dafa 05 the Dy Commissioners should include Dharmat, Wakaf and evacuees land also in the campaign underway in Jammu and Kashmir for retrieval of the immovable properties under unauthorised occupation.
(The author is the former Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of TheNewsCaravan.)
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi: A total of 1,457 cases are pending in various high courts, related to compensation for land acquisition against the government or the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) wherein no response could so far be filed, the Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply at the Rajya Sabha, said: “There is no delay in filing of replies. Therefore, the question of fixing responsibility does not arise.”
“Instructions have been issued to all concerned officers to file the response on behalf of the government or NHAI within the prescribed time limit in the matters pending before the High Courts,” he added.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued instructions and guidelines regarding timely handling of court cases in which it has been instructed that the concerned field office of the agency involved in the development and maintenance of national highways, shall file a suitable counter affidavit in court cases, well before the date of hearing of the case before the court and defend the case on behalf of the Central government, said the reply.
The Ministry said that many efforts have been taken for resolution of land acquisition compensation disputes. It includes introduction of BhoomiRashi portal for online submission of LA notification for reducing the time in publication and payment of compensation.
The efforts in this regard also include regular meetings with state governments for speedy land acquisition and timely disbursement of compensation.
A Dalit woman, whose cow had strayed inside an upper caste person’s land was assaulted, beaten with chappals, and hurled casteist abuses by the latter in Koppal district of Karnataka.
The incident occurred on February 3 in Rampur village. The accused tied the Dalit woman in front of his house and then began hitting her with his chappals.
Family members of the Dalit victim have alleged this is a common practice followed by the accused Amaresh Kumbar for many years.
Based on the Dalit victim’s complaint, Kanakagiri police registered a case against Kumbar under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Dalit atrocities are becoming progressively common in Karnataka. Last year, upper caste members in Heggotara village of Chamarajanagar taluk cleaned a water tank after a Dalit woman drank water from it to quench her thirst.
Dalit young men protested by drinking water from all water tanks in the village thus highlighting the issue of discrimination and untouchability that is heavily prevalent in rural areas.
Also, a message was painted on the tanks, making it clear that they are meant for public use and anyone can drink water from them.
Similarly, in December, a Dalit woman was seen being mercilessly kicked and dragged by a priest out of a temple after she dared to enter it. A video of the assault soon went viral. The incident took place in Bengaluru.
The video shows the woman being repeatedly slapped, and dragged by the hair outside. The accused can be seen beating her with sticks even as she runs for cover.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear in May the pleas on which it had last month stayed the Uttarakhand High Court’s order for removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land claimed by the railways in Haldwani.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices SK Kaul and Manoj Misra, which listed it for hearing on May 2.
On January 5, the top court had stayed the high court order for removal of encroachments from the 29 acres of land claimed by the railways in Haldwani, terming it a “human issue” and saying 50,000 people cannot be uprooted overnight.
“We do believe that a workable arrangement is necessary to segregate people who may have no rights in the land and those who have…. Coupled with schemes of rehabilitation which may already exist while recognising the need of the railways,” it had said.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the bench was requested to grant eight weeks’ time to authorities to work out a solution as indicated by the court last month.
According to the railways, there are 4,365 encroachers on the land, while the occupants were earlier staging protests in Haldwani, asserting that they were the rightful owners of the land.
Nearly 50,000 people, a majority of them Muslims, belonging to more than 4,000 families reside on the disputed land.
Observing that many of the occupants have claimed that they have been residing there for more than 50 years, the apex court had last month observed that there was a “human angle” to the problem and the authorities concerned had to find a “practical way out”.
It had also issued notices to the railways and the Uttarakhand government, seeking their responses to a batch of pleas challenging the high court order for removal of encroachments.
In its December 20 last year order, the high court had said, “The railway authorities, in coordination with the district administration, and if need be, with any other paramilitary forces, shall immediately, after giving a week’s notice to the occupants over the railway land, ask them to vacate the land within the aforesaid period.”
The apex court had, however, said since the people sought to be removed from the land have been staying there for several years, some rehabilitation has to be found for them.
Staying the high court’s directions, the apex court had said there had to be complete restraint on any further occupation of land and construction whether by the existing occupants or anyone else.
The high court had ordered demolition of constructions on the alleged encroached railway land at Banbhoolpura in Haldwani.
It had directed that a week’s notice be given to the encroachers, after which the encroachments should be demolished.
The residents have submitted in their plea that the high court has gravely erred in passing the impugned order, despite being aware of the fact that proceedings with regard to the title of the residents, including the petitioners, are pending before the district magistrate.
The petitioners have claimed that they possess documents that clearly establish their title and valid occupation.
