HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AD KASHMIR

AT JAMMU

****

OWP o.939/2007

Date of Decision:15.03.2012

_________________________________________________

Sagar Chand and ors. Vs State of J&K and ors.

Coram:

Mr. Justice J.P.Singh.

Appearing Counsel:

For the Petitioner(s)

: Mr. Amit Gupta, Advocate.

For the Respondent(s)

: Mr. A. H. Qazi, AAG for 1 & 2.

Mr. Vishal Bharti, Advocate for 3.

i)

Whether approved for reporting

in Press/Journal/Media :

Optional

ii)

Whether to be reported

in Digest

:

Yes

________________________________________________________

Mutation No. 220 attested for land measuring 36

kanals 16 marlas comprised in Khasra Nos. 276/17,

279/19 and 281/20 situated at village Muthi Jagir

Tehsil and District Kathua, in favour of the

petitioners, was set aside by the Jammu and Kashmir

Special Tribunal vide order dated 24.8.2007 made on

respondent-Harbhajan

Singh’s

Revision

directed

against

the

order

of

Additional

Deputy

Commissioner, Kathua with powers of Commis-

sioner, Agrarian Reforms (Appeals), whereby his

Appeal against Mutation was dismissed.

The petitioners’ Mutation was set aside by the

Tribunal holding that having been attested in absence

of respondent, who was then serving in Indian Army,

itcould not be sustained being violative of the

2

principles of Natural Justice.

Questioning the judgment of the Special

Tribunal, the petitioners’ learned counsel submitted

that Appeal preferred by the respondent against the

Mutation after a period of more than twenty years was

rightly dismissed by the learned Additional Deputy

Commissioner and the Tribunal had, therefore, no

jurisdiction to interfere with the order of the

Commissioner.

The respondent, on the other hand, would submit

that there being no dispute between the parties on the

issue that the land in question was allotted to the

respondent, a displaced person of 1947 from Pak

Occupied Kashmir, under Cabinet Decision No.

578-C of 1954 and conferred with ownership rights

thereon vide Mutation No. 198 under Government

Order No. 254-C of 1965, the provisions of the

Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976

would have no application to the land in question and

the Mutation attested in favour of the petitioners being

void abinitio, no interference with the Tribunal’s order

was warranted.

I have considered the submissions of learned

counsel for the parties and gone through the

provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian

Reforms Act, 1976.

The land in question being one allotted to the

respondent, a displaced person of 1947 from Pak

Occupied Kashmir, under Cabinet Order No. 578-C of

3

1954 and conferred with ownership rights thereon

under Government Order No. 254-C of 1965, the

provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian

Reforms Act, 1976, would not be applicable to the

land in question as specifically indicated so in

Schedule-II appended to the Jammu and Kashmir

Agrarian Reforms Act.

This apart, in terms of the provisions of Section

4-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms

Act, any Mutation attested under Sections 4, 8 or 12

of the Act for any land mentioned under Section 3 or

Sub-section (2) of Section 4 would be void abinitio.

The land in question falls in the category of land

as defined in Section 4(2)(c) of the Act and in this

view of the matter, the provisions of the Jammu and

Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act would have no

application to the land in question. The Mutation

attested under the provisions of the Agrarian Reforms

Act for the land in question cannot, therefore, be

sustained, being without jurisdiction.

The view taken by the Tribunal in annulling the

Mutation attested in favour of the petitioners, cannot,

therefore, be faulted.

There is thus no merit in the Writ Petition, which

is, accordingly, dismissed.