HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

AT JAMMU

Reserved on: 06.04.2021

Pronounced on: 28.04.2021

CJ Court

Case: PIL No. 33 of 2017

(through video conferencing)

Irtiza Mushtaq

…Petitioner(s)/Appellant(s)

Through: Sh. S. S. Ahmed, Advocate

and Ms. Supriya Chouhan,

Advocate

v/s

State of J&K and others

…. Respondent(s)

Through: Sh. S. S. Nanda, Sr. AAG for

respondent No. 2

Sh. Sachin Gupta, Advocate for

respondent No. 3

Sh. Abhinav Sharma, Sr. Advocate

with Ms. Parkhi Parihar, Advocate

for respondent No. 5

Sh. R. K. Gupta, Sr. Advocate with

Sh. Ratish Mahajan, Advocate for

respondent Nos. 6 and 7

Sh. K. K. Jandiyal, Advocate for

respondent No. 8

Sh. Adarsh Sharma, Advocate for

respondent Nos. 9 and 10

Sh. Ajay Bakshi, Advocate for

respondent No.11

Sh. U. K. Jalali, Sr. Advocate with

Ms. Poonam Kaul, Advocate for

respondent No.12

Sh. S. K. Anand, Advocate for

respondent No.13.

CORAM:

HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJNESH OSWAL, JUDGE

ORDER

1.

The petitioner, a practicing lawyer of this Court claiming to be a

Right to Information (RTI) activist as well, has filed the present petition in public

interest, wherein a challenge has been thrown to the allotments made by the

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PIL No. 33 of 2017

respondent No. 3 in favour of respondent Nos. 5 to 13 by virtue of various

allotment orders spanning from the year 1993 till 2015 and simultaneously, the

petitioner has prayed for the eviction of the private respondents from the

Municipals Flats situated at Gandhi Nagar Jammu and also for recovery of rent at

the market value from the respondent Nos. 5 to 13. Yet another prayer has been

made to direct State Vigilance Organization (Now Anti Corruption Bureau) to

register an FIR under section 5(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of

Corruption Act.

2.

It is stated that the Jammu Municipal Corporation has adopted a pick

and choose policy for the purpose of allotment of Municipal Flats/Quarters

located at posh locality of Gandhi Nagar Jammu in favour of its officers who had

served its senior positions and later superannuated and the allotments have been

extended for a further period of 40 years at a meager rent of Rs. 600/- to Rs. 900/-

per month. It is also the case of the petitioner that the Municipal Corporation has

allotted the Municipal Flats/Quarters at Gandhi Nagar, Jammu to some private

persons as well at a meager rent arbitrarily just on the basis of pick and choose

policy without adopting any rational criteria. The petitioner claims to have

obtained an information under RTI Act, regarding the allotments made by the

Jammu Municipal Corporation.

3.

The following instances of illegal allotments have been narrated by

the petitioner.

(a)

That vide order No. ME/Estt/6466-67 dated 08.10.1993, a Municipal

Flat at Gandhi Nagar, Jammu was allotted in favour of respondent

No. 5 and the order was issued without mentioning the status of the

beneficiary who at that point of time was a senior KAS Officer and

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PIL No. 33 of 2017

later respondent No. 5 has remained as Municipal Commissioner,

Jammu and also served as Commissioner/Secretary to Government

of Jammu and Kashmir, Housing and Urban Development

Department. As per the Rent Deed dated 20.12.2012, the lease of the

aforesaid Municipal Flat has been executed for a term of 40 years

with effect from 20.12.2012 at a monthly rent of Rs. 1000/- only

with escalation of rent by at least 15% for a further period of 2 years.

It is further stated that the said IAS Officer has succeeded in

inducting his nephew, namely, Rahul Gupta S/o Sh. K. L. Gupta as

one of the beneficiaries of the above m