IMPORTANT POINT : A public servant committing a criminal offence of trespassing in Government property is liable to be dealt with sternly.

Judgment :

WP(C) No.95/2021

This petition is primarily directed against the communication of respondent No.3 (Tehsildar Relief & Rehabilitation (Migrants), Srinagar) dated 17.01.2021 directing the SHO, P/S Qazikund, Kulgam to register an FIR against the petitioners for having entered upon and occupied the under construction quarters at Migrant Colony, Vessu, illegally. The petitioners, beside being aggrieved of the aforesaid communication, also seek a direction to the respondents to adopt a reasonable criteria for allotment of accommodation to the migrant employees appointed under Prime Minister’s Special Package for rehabilitation and return of the migrants to the Valley. The petitioners have also voiced their grievance against the manner in which the respondents have made the allotment of 200 and odd units that have come up at Transit Camp Vessu, District Kulgam.

2. The Department of Relief and Rehabilitation (respondent Nos.1 to 3) as also respondent No.4 (JK PCC Ltd.) have contested the writ petition. In the reply affidavit filed on behalf of Relief and Rehabilitation Department i.e respondent Nos. 1 to 3, their precise stand is that the petitioners, who are already having pre-fab accommodation at Transmit Camp Vessu, have illegally and unauthorisedly entered into the under construction quarters and are, therefore, rank trespassers. They are not only required to be evicted from their unauthorized occupation, but are also required to be proceeded for committing criminal trespass over the public property. The respondents have justified the communication of respondent No.3 directing the SHO, P/S Qazikund to register a formal FIR against the petitioners and others, who have taken law into their own hands and committed the offence of criminal trespass.

3. The JK PCC in its reply has submitted that being an executing agency, it has constructed the Government quarters meant for migrant employees appointed under Prime Minister’s package and, therefore, ostensibly there is no grievance raised by the petitioners in their petition against it.

4. In this petition also, the primary grouse of the petitioners is against the communication of respondent No.3 dated 17.01.2021 requesting the SHO Police Station, Qazikund to register an FIR against the petitioners for having illegally entered upon, locked and occupied the under construction quarters at Migrant Colony Vessu. Additionally, the petitioners have called in question a communication of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (M), Jammu whereby the Executive Engineer, Power Development Department, Anantnag Division has been requested to initiate disciplinary action against the petitioners for having committed misconduct under Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956 [“Rules of 1956”). Rest of the reliefs claimed in the petition are, by and large, the same as prayed for in WP(C) No. 95/2021.

5. The reply of Department of Relief and Rehabilitation is on the same lines of the reply submitted to WP(C) No. 95/2021.

WP(C) No. 867/2021

6. The petitioners in this petition are aggrieved of and have assailed the communication of respondent No.2 bearing No. DCRR(M)/Sgr/21/28-32 dated 15.04.2021 whereby the Executive Engineer KPDCL, Kulgam/Qazikund has been requested not to provide any electric connection to the illegal occupants of the under construction quarters at Migrant Colony Vessu. The impugned communication is an offshoot of the alleged trespass by the petitioners in the under construction quarters erected by the respondents at Transit Camp, Vessu, District Kulgam. They are also aggrieved of another communication dated 17.04.2021 issued by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (M) Jammu to the Deputy Commissioner, Kulgam requesting the latter to intervene in the matter and direct the officers of KPDCL and Jal Shakti Departments not to allow any illegal connection of electricity or water supply to any of the under construction blocks which have been