Sr. No.14 HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT JAMMU Case: WP (C) No.558/2022 CM No. 1812/2022 01. Krishan Saroop, Aged 66 Years S/o Late Sh. Massadi Ram R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar. 02. Shankuntla Devi, Aged 68 Years W/o Late Sh. Jagdish Raj R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar. 03. Anita Devi, Aged 39 Years D/o Late Sh. Jagdish Raj R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar. 04. Rasho Devi, Aged 37 Years D/o Late Sh. Jagdish Raj R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar. 05. Randeep Kumar, Aged 33 Years S/o Late Sh. Jagdish Raj R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar. 06. Joginder Lal, Aged 29 Years S/o Late Sh. Jagdish Raj R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar. 07. Subrat Lal, Aged 27 Years S/o Late Sh. Jagdish Raj R/o Village Tund, Tehsil and District Kishtwar …Petitioner(s)/Appellant(s) Through: Mr. Rajnesh Singh Parihar, Advocate. V/s 01. Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir through Commissioner/ Secretary of Revenue Department to Government of Jammu & Kashmir, Civil Secretariat Jammu/Srinagar. 02. Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar. 03. Collector Land Acquisition (Assistant Commissioner Revenue), Kishtwar. 04. Chief Engineer PWD (R&B), Jammu. …. Respondent(s) 05. Superintending Engineer, PWD (R&B), Kishtwar. 06. Executive Engineer, PWD (R&B), Kishtwar Through: None. CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY DHAR, JUDGE JUDGMENT(ORAL) 04.03.2025 1. 01The petitioners, through the medium of the instant petition are seeking a direction upon the respondents to pay compensation to them in respect of the land measuring 10 Kanals and 03 Marlas falling under Khasra No. 602, 01 Kanal and 10 Marlas in Khasra No. 744 and 02 Kanals and 13 Marlas in Khasra No. 321 situated at revenue village Hidyal (Tund) Kishtwar. 2. As per case of the petitioners, they are owners in possession of the aforesaid land. It has been submitted that the respondents intended to acquire the aforesaid land for the purpose of construction of bye pass road from Deewaroo to Duga, Kishtwar and in this regard, respondent No. 3- Collector Land Acquisition (Assistant Commissioner Revenue), Kishtwar vide his communication dated 28.09.2019 in reference to communication dated 12.09.2019 of respondent No. 2 issued letter of indent to respondent No. 6- Executive Engineer, PWP (R&B), Kishtwar and other concerned officials for construction of bye pass road from NHIB road at Dewaroo to Duga, Kishtwar connecting to Kishtwar Synthan upto Shingle Status under CRF thereby requesting respondent No. 3 to visit the spot and conduct joint inspection of the abovementioned road under rules and submit report thereof. 3. According to learned counsel for the petitioners, the respondents without issuing any notification under the Land Acquisition Act started construction of the bye pass road from Deewaroo to Duga, Kishtwar on the land of the petitioners. It is being submitted that one of the brothers of petitioner No. 1 who is also a shareholder in the land in question invoked writ jurisdiction of this Court by way of a writ petition bearing WP(C) No. 996/2020 and the said writ petition was disposed of by this Court vide order dated 10.06.2020 on the statement of learned counsel for the respondents that till such time, the award for payment of compensation to the land owners is not made, the road would not be constructed. 4. It has been alleged that despite the aforesaid directions of this Court, the respondents constructed the road by taking over the land belonging to the petitioners without acquiring the same in accordance with law and without paying any compensation to the petitioners. 5. Reply on behalf of respondent Nos. 2 and 3 (Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar and Assistant Commissioner, Revenue Kishtwar) stands filed. The other respondents have not filed their reply despite availing a large number of opportunities. In terms of order dated 03.11.2023, right of respondent Nos. 4 to 6 to file their response already stands closed. 6. Respondent Nos. 2 and 3 in their reply have submitted that construction of bye pass road from Dewaroo to Dugga Kishtwar was proposed after a detailed survey, and accordingly, Letter of Indent was placed by Chief Engineer PWD (R&B) Jammu to Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar vide No. 6665-68 dated 26.08.2019. It has been submitted that vide letter dated 12.09.2019, Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar asked ACR Collector land Acquisition, Kishtwar to initiate Land Acquisition process. It has been further submitted that vide communication dated 28.09.2019, DFO Kishtwar, Tehsildar Kishtwar, Executive Engineer, PWD(R&B), Kistwar and Chief Horticulture Officer, Kishtwar were asked to visit the spot on 04.10.2019 personally and conduct the joint inspection of the Bye Pass road from Dewaroo Kishtwar to Dugga Kishtwar. It has been further submitted that the compensation in the amount of Rs.10.52 lacs has been deposited in the account of Collector Land Acquisition, Kishtwar but the total financial implication for the land compensation of the project is about Rs.113 Crore. Accordingly, Collector Land Acquisition, Kishtwar requested Chief Engineer PWD (R&B) Jammu to deposit at least 50% cost of the total compensation before proceeding further. 7. It has been submitted that pursuant to order dated 16.03.2022 passed by this Court in the earlier writ petition, Tehsildar, Kishtwar was asked to visit the spot and submit the latest status. In response thereto, Tehsildar, Kishtwar vide his communication dated 04.01.2023 has reported that the construction of bypass road from Dewaroo to Duga has been started in Village Pochhal, Matta and Hidyal and partial excavation/digging was already done by PWD R&B department. It has been further reported that the spot was visited on 21.11.2022 along with Junior Engineer, PWD (R&B) Division Kishtwar, officers/officials of Horticulture and Forest Department and it was found that the construction of road by way of earth cutting is completed from Matta to Nagni portion of Village Hidyal including Khasra Nos. 321, 602 and 744 but no earth cutting/excavation work has been started in left over portion from Nagni to Dewaroo take off point. It was also reported that Tehsildar, Kishtwar has constituted a team of revenue officials for preparation of Revenue papers of the said road and that the preparation of revenue papers is under process. 8. From the reply filed by respondent Nos. 2 and 3, it is clear that the respondents have undertaken the construction of the road on the land including the land falling under Khasra Nos. 602, 744, 321. It is pertinent to mention that the land belonging to the petitioners falls under the aforesaid Khasra numbers meaning thereby that the respondents have utilised the land of the petitioners and admittedly no compensation has been paid to them so far. 9. Right to Property is a constitutional right guaranteed under Article 300 of Constitution of India and the same cannot be taken away without adopting due course of law. The respondents by utilising the land of the petitioners without paying any compensation to them have violated this valuable right of the petitioners. 10. In view of the above, this writ petition is allowed and the respondents are directed to initiate proceedings for acquisition of those portions of land belonging to the petitioners which has come under the construction of road in question by issuing appropriate notification under the provisions of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The respondents shall conclude the process of acquisition within a period of six months from the date a copy of this judgment is provided to them. 11. The writ petition is ‘disposed of’ accordingly. (SANJAY DHAR) JUDGE Jammu 04.03.2025 Renu Renu Bala 2025.03.06 18:34 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document