1386 Kanals of prime land ‘sold out’ by J&K Ministers, bureaucrats outside

Govt has 1500 Kanals of land outside J&K; just 116 Kanals in its possession

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 10: Politicians and bureaucrats in successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir have given nearly 1,400 Kanals of prime land into unauthorized possession of different government and private parties out of the state’s total assets and acquisitions of 1,500 Kanals. This has become clear from an answer to a member’s question in Legislative Council today.

On behalf of Minister incharge Hospitality and Protocol (Chief Minister), Government today revealed in reply to the National Conference MLC Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri in Legislative Council that it had 1,500 Kanals of land outside the state. While most of it had been acquired by the state government, some of it had been obtained on lease. Out of 1,500 Kanals, only 116 Kanals was in physical possession of the state government.

In a written reply, it was made clear to the MLC that J&K Government had 41 Kanals and 12 Marlas of land at 5-Prithvi Raj Road in New Delhi, known as ‘old J&K House’. Different structures had been constructed on this piece of land. These included Resident Commissioner’s office and residence, suites for Governor and Chief Minister, Circuit House of 15 Rooms besides 31 residential quarters for staff and other offices.

At Chanakyapuri, known as ‘new J&K House’ in New Delhi, Government had land measuring 11 Kanals and 18.2 Marlas. Guest House comprising three blocks of total 57 rooms, four VIP suites and 40 residential quarters for staff stood built on the land.

At Raja Ji Marg in New Delhi, J&K Government had land measuring 114 Kanals and 11.2 Marlas out of which only 17 Kanals were in its physical possession. Bureaucrats and officials have given 96 Kanlas of this prime land into the possession of Military Engineering Wing of Ministry of Defence. Besides, land measuring 1 Kanal and 11.2 Marlas had been given into the possession of Central PWD.

The reply revealed the mystery of the loss of state government’s land measuring 1,251 Kanals and 4 Marlas at Sirsa in Haryana. “The land has been surreptitiously transferred in the name of Mirpur Cooperative Society by the Assistant Collector 1^st Class”, said the reply. It said that the land was initially leased out to M/S Bajwa Brothers for 5 years with effect from 1957 to 1962. “The land was surreptitiously transferred in favour of Mirpur Cooperative Society by an Order dated 02-04-1986 passed by the Assistant Controller 1^st class Sirsa. A writ petition is being filed in Punjab & Haryana High Court for restoration of the land to the Government of J&K”, said the reply to Mr Veeri’s question.

However, the reply did neither identify the bureaucrats and politicians responsible for this lapse or connivance nor did it mention why the bureaucrats and Ministers in successive governments from 1986 to 2012 had not initiated any action for restoration of the possession of 1,251 Kanals of the usurped land.

Interestingly in the current year’s Budget session in Jammu, Government had assured the same MLC that it had specially given this task to Advocate General and the land would be got restored within six months. Today, it became clear that the Government has been conveniently sleeping over the matter, like many of predecessor governments and even a writ petition has not been filed, neither from 1986 to 2012 nor in the last six months.

Complaints that officers and politicians of all successive governments have been sleeping over illegal occupation of J&K Government’s lands, particularly those in Delhi, Mumbai and Sirsa, in lieu of huge amounts of bribe money and other favours from the beneficiary occupants have fallen on deaf ears of all governments.

In the reply on behalf of Chief Minister, Minister of State H&P, Aijaz Ahmad Khan revealed that J&K Government had an area of 2,646 sft at World Trade Centre, Cuffee House, in Mumbai which houses Joint Resident Commissioner’s office. It had also a guest house of two bed rooms and a dining room on the 3^rd floor of Advent Building on Foreshore Road in Mumbai, over area of 1,436 sft. It also had a duplex flat (5,672 sft) on 2^nd floor of the building called Haveli at LD Rupareal Marg, Mallabar Hills in Mumbai. The flat of 5 bed rooms is being used as the state government’s Guest House in Mumbai.

“Land measuring 5,802 square yards (1 Kanal and 2 Marlas) at Napean Sea Road, Mumbai, is on lease with M/S Sanghvi Construction Company, Mumbai, for 90 years w.e.f. 1^st June, 1991”, said the reply.

It added that in Chandigarh, J&K Government had land measuring 7 Kanals and 10.6 Marlas in Sector-5A (J&K House). It has 6 guest rooms and a VIP suite. The state government has also a commercial building of 1 Kanal and 7 Marlas (812 sq yards) in Sector-17A comprising 4 floors and a basement. The reply revealed that this property worth hundreds of Crores was currently in lease of Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

According to the reply, J&K House Amritsar, situated at 2-Court Road, Amritsar, has one VIP suite and three guest rooms in the main building and three in another building, besides staff quarters and a Manager’s Quarter. It has total area of 19 Kanals. “The State Government has 32 Kanals and 9 Marlas of land at Daim Gunj, Tapai Road, Amritsar which is under unauthorized occupation of the families of original lessees for many years”, said the reply.

It made clear that in addition to H&P Department’s above-mentioned properties, J&K Government also owned a plot measuring 4,000 sq meters (7 Kanals and 18 Marlas) at Shalimar Bagh in Delhi. Since 1977, it has been under possession of Horticulture (Planning & Marketing) Department which has built on the premises a Kisan Ghar comprising 28 rooms. Fruit growers and traders visiting Delhi are given preference on all others in staying at the Kisan Ghar.

Besides, J&K State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) had land measuring 5 Kanals and 19 Marlas, with a single story building on it, at Dalhousie Road in Pathankote, Punjab. SRTC uses it as depot for inter-state bus service but considering its commercial utilization.

Government has also a plot of land measuring 433.77 sq yards (14 Marlas) at Baba Kharak Singh Marg in New Delhi. Offices and showrooms of Kashmir Government Arts Emporium and J&K Industries Ltd are located on the same land. The reply said that it was on a perpetual lease but disclosed that no copy of the lease deed was available with the state government.

Surprisingly, the reply made it clear that like all previous government, Omar Abdullah’s government was continuously sleeping over utilization of land measuring 4 Kanals and 2.5 Marlas which had been leased out to J&K Government in 1987 at the high-valued Salt lake in Kolkata. West Bengal Government has terminated this lease several times in the last as the J&K Government has failed to raise a Kisan Ghar on the premises in accordance to terms and conditions of the lease deed. West Bengal Government has extended the deadline several times, as many as three times in the last three years of Omar Abdullah government. Still, no construction has been raised on the premises.

“The West Bengal Government agreed to allow another extension in the time lines till April 2012. Since the construction work on the above plots has not started yet, again a request has been lodged with the WB Government at the level of the Hon’ble Chief Minister for another extension in the timeline for the construction of facilities. The department is taking all the necessary steps to set up the infrastructure on the above sites”, said the Government’s reply without revealing what dozens of tours by Ministers and bureaucrats from Srinagar and Jammu to Kolkata had yielded in the last over three years of current government.

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