JUDGMENT :

SINDHU SHARMA, J.

1. The present Letters Patent Appeal has been filed against the judgment and order dated 21.02.2024 passed by this Court in OWP No. 502/2009, whereby the writ petition preferred by the appellants came to be dismissed.

2. The appellants are longstanding shopkeepers who had been carrying on their business for several decades in front of the premises of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Sopore. During the process of road widening undertaken by the Town Area Committee, Sopore, the shops of the appellants were demolished, resulting in deprivation of their means of livelihood.

3. Consequent upon the demolition of their shops, the appellants made repeated representations before the concerned authorities seeking allotment of alternative land for rehabilitation. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir, vide Government Order dated 31.12.2004 and Cabinet Decision No. 210/11 dated 30.12.2004, sanctioned allotment of land belonging to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Sopore, in favour of the dislocated shopkeepers, including the appellants, subject to certain terms and conditions.

4. Pursuant to the aforesaid Government orders, the appellants raised construction of shops at their own cost and deposited the requisite building permission fee with the Municipal Council, Sopore.

5. For the purpose of fixation of rent of the newly constructed shops, the Superintending Engineer, Hydraulic Circle, Sopore, constituted a Rent Assessment Committee vide letter dated 12.02.2005, directing it to fix rent on the basis of prevailing market rates with a reasonable increase after every five years.

6. The grievance of the appellants is that the Rent Assessment Committee acted arbitrarily and in violation of the mandate issued to it. It is contended that the appellants were not afforded an opportunity of participation in the assessment process and that the Committee fixed the rent at the rate of Rs. 10/- per square foot per month i.e. with a 20% enhancement after every five years, which was substantially higher than the rent being paid by other shopkeepers in the same locality. The appellants further contend that rent agreements executed by other shopkeepers with the Municipal Council, reflecting much lower rates, were placed on record but were not considered.

7. Aggrieved by the said fixation, the appellants approached this Court by filing OWP No. 589/2006 and thereafter OWP No. 502/2009, challenging the rent fixation as arbitrary, discriminatory, and violative of the principles of natural justice on the ground that no opportunity of hearing was afforded to them.

8. During the pendency of the writ proceedings, this Court, vide order dated 31.03.2021, directed the appellants to deposit rent at the undisputed rate of Rs. 5/- per square foot per month till final adjudication. The appellants complied with the said direction and furnished affidavits undertaking to abide by the final outcome of the case.The writ petition bearing OWP No. 589/2006 was dismissed on 21.07.2008 by holding as under:-

“….The petitioners have not challenged the findings of the Rent Assessment Committee as such the rent fixed by them cannot now be disputed by the petitioners. No substantial ground has been raised by the petitioners to show how the rent fixed by the Rent Assessment Committee is not proper and is not equivalent to the prevalent market rate.

The petitioners cannot claim parity with other shopkeepers as they have got the shops under a Government Order and the petitioners being beneficiaries of the order are bound by the terms and conditions of the said order.

In the circumstances, I do not find any force in the present petition, which is hereby dismissed.”

9. The appellants have challenged the constitution of rent assessment committee made vide order dated 12.02.2005 and its findings dated 16.07.2005, with a direction to reconstitute them again in OWP No. 502/2009. This petition has been dismissed by the impugned judgment dated 21.02.2024 on