Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh directed the Army to pay 46 years’ rent on the land it had reportedly been occupying since 1978 owned by man in Kupwara in North Kashmir, The Indian Express reported.
The Bench, headed by Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal in its order on November 11 observed that the right to property ‘falls within the realm of human rights’.
‘The right to property is now considered to be not only constitutional or statutory right, but falls within the realm of human rights,’ the court reportedly observed.
Abdul Majeed Lone approached the court seeking intervention in collecting rent from the Army on the land measuring 12 kanals and 14 marlas, located at Tangdhar village.
The court made it clear that human rights have been considered in individual rights including shelter, livelihood, health, employment, thus the rights gaining a multifaceted dimension.
Alongside noting that no rent was paid to the petitioner, the court said that land is in possession of the Army as per the report submitted by revenue authorities.
The court said that the respondents acquired the land of the petitioner without following due process of law alongside not paying the rental to the petitioner violating the Constitutional right of the petitioner.
The court said that the claim of Centre and the Army that the latter had not occupied the land does not ‘sustain the test of law and is rejected’.
Meanwhile, the court directed Kupwara’s Deputy Commissioner to set up within two weeks a team of Revenue officers, headed by the tehsildar.
The team is directed to ‘take necessary steps for assessment of rental compensation with regard to the occupation of land in question by the Army’.
The rent, the court said, should be paid to the petitioner within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the assessment report.
The State and its agencies, the court said, ‘cannot dispossess a citizen of his property except in accordance with procedure established by law. The obligation to pay the compensation, though not expressly included in Article 300A, can be inferred from the said Article.’