Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has dismissed a petition by a resident of Baramulla regarding compensation for over 7 Kanals last at the rate of Rs.70 lakh per kanal in the north Kashmir district and imposed Rs 50,000 as costs on him for concealing material facts before it.
The petitioner’s land, along with that of others, totalling over 26 kanals, had been acquired around a decade ago for expansion of the Kansipora Fruit & Vegetable Market having been established in 2006 on over 44 kanals and 14 marlas of land, for infrastructure requirement of the fruit growers of the area.
In his plea, the petitioner, M A Dar, had demanded price of the land under Acquisition Act and sought the award be passed and amount be fixed as per Market rate of the land.
However, officials said that the petitioner has mislead the Court as his land came to be acquired pursuant to the private negotiations meeting held on 15 July, 2014, wherein the rate of the land of the petitioner came to be approved by the Private Negotiations Committee on 15 July 2014 itself at the rate Rs. 20 lacs per kanal and same came to be accepted and agreed by him in person in the meeting without any pressure or coercion and that he also affixed his thumb impression on the minutes of the meeting as a token of acceptance.
After hearing both sides, a bench of Justice Javed Iqbal Wani said that the petitioner cannot be allowed to turn around after having participated in the private negotiations undertaken in the matter by the officials and also agreeing to the amount of compensation assessed and determined and subsequently received by him.
“There is yet another angle of the controversy raised in the petition which cannot be overlooked by this Court, that being, that the petitioner admittedly has concealed, suppressed and misrepresented material facts before this Court not only in the instant petition but previously as well while maintaining OWP No. 1841/2017, which petition have had been filed on 13 November, 2017 i.e. admittedly much after the holding of private negotiations dated 15th July, 2014, inasmuch as the receipt of final amount of compensation by the petitioner on 24th April, 2017,” the court said, adding, “…the petitioner has deliberately chosen to conceal the said material facts in both the petitions and has in the process while maintaining the petitions abused the process of law.”
Resultantly, the court dismissed the petition with costs of Rs. 50,000 to be deposited by the petitioner within three weeks’ time before its Registrar Judicial. Upon depositing the amount, the court directed that the same shall be credited by the Registry in Account maintained in the name of “Yateem Khannah, Bemina, Srinagar”.
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