Encroachment of Pandit Land- Will Mufti Govt: Act?

By Special Correspondent

Kashmiri Pandits were not only physically forced out of their homeland but their immovable and movable properties were not even spared. The left out movable property was looted, houses burnt, destroyed or occupied and land and orchards encroached. What is more intriguing is the fact that inspite of enacting a law "The Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sale) Act, 1997". to stop distress sale and appoint Deputy Commissioners as custodians of migrant property, no action was initiated by the administration in this regard. There are enough evidences where Kashmiri Pandits complained about illegal occupations or encroachments but the administration did not take any action to undo these illegal occupations and encroachments not to speak of initiating any action against the encroachers.

As government did not take any action, more and more unscrupulous elements were encouraged to lay their hand on Pandits' properties and the trend continued even after enacting the law in 1997.

In this particular case, the land was encroached after enacting the law and no action has been taken by the administration till date. Shankarpora village in Chadura tehsil of Budgam district is in close vicinity of Srinagar city. Due to expansion of Srinagar city, the market value of land property has increased manifold and Pandits' land has become target of land grabbers and miscreants. Kundan Lal Koul, Kashi  Nath Koul, Makhan Lal Koul, Bansi Lal Koul and Jawahar Lal Koul sons of late Gopinath Koul of Shankarpora are exclusive owners of an Orchard measuring more than 30 kanals under the Survey No: 43 min in the village. One, Ghulam Hassan Aram, alias Waza purchased some land from Mohd. Maqbool Magray adjacent to the Kouls' orchard. In the garb of same purchase, Mr. Waza has encroached upon the Orchard and has even blocked the entrance to the Orchard.

The Kouls approached chief secretary J&K Government through a legal notice on 13/10/2002 requesting to take legal action and Undo the encroachment. Copies of the notice were sent to Divisional Commissioner Srinagar, DC Budgam, SSP Budgam for action and even a copy was sent to the illegal occupant.

The aggrieved party again reminded the said officials on 20/11/2000. Surprisingly no action has been initiated till date though the Pandits continued to knock the doors of the administration. Mr Waza is proprietor of Oriental Hotel, Srinagar and as such enjoys clout in the administration. "Mr Waza is even threatening those Muslim villagers who are opposed to this encroachment by implicating them in false cases", says Kundan Lal Koul, one of the share holders of the Orchard.

Encroachment has been employed as a modus operandi by the miscreants to force distress sale of Pandits property. Once the land is encroached and no hope of any action by biased administration, Pandits are forced to sell the property at throw away prices. In this case also, the motive may be same as Mr. Waza is reportedly interested in developing land into a residential colony.

Kouls who could not get any relief from previous government, approached Revenue Minister (now portfolios changed) Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir of new coalition government. Mr Mir marked the case for DC Budgam to treat the matter urgent and solve the problem and assured Pandits of Justice. It is now to be seen whether the new government takes any action in this particular case and many more such cases or keeps crying like predecessors without giving any relief to Pandits in case of illegal occupations and encroachments.