Jammu, Dec 19: In a major development, a Division Bench of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh (Jammu Wing) comprising its Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi has directed Sr. AAG, S.S. Nanda appearing for Estates Department, Govt. of J&K to file response to the averments made in a fresh application (CM No.7532/2023) filed by Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed for placing on record a Gift Deed of a residential house dated August 10, 1987 made in favour of Ex-Deputy C.M. of J&K-Kavinder Gupta S/o Bindraban Gupta executed by one Yograj Singh S/o Sh. Waryam Singh R/o Sarwal, Jammu at present Janipur, Jammu which was registered by then Sub-Registrar (City), Jammu on August 11, 1987.
The Division Bench after hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina, Suraj Singh, Supriya Chouhan, M. Zulkarnain Choudhary, Syed Majid Shah and Advocate Adnan Mushtaq Jaral appearing for the petitioner in the much publicized PIL No.17/2020 further directed Sr. AAG S.S. Nanda and Sr. AAG Monika Kohli appearing for the Govt. of J&K to ascertain the correctness of the persons, if necessary, namely Kavinder Gupta (Former Deputy CM, J&K) and Yograj Singh in terms of order dated September 13, 2023. Vide order dated September 13, 2023 the Division Bench had directed Advocate S.S. Ahmed to furnish a list of those persons who possess houses in Jammu or in Kashmir as mentioned in the Annexure R-1 to the Status Report filed by Estates Department on March 28, 2023 wherein a list of 48 persons still occupying the Govt. Accommodation in J&K was shared.
The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh further directed, “It is made clear that if the aforesaid requisite information is not furnished before the next date by learned counsel for the respondents, this Court will proceed to array the persons named in the application as party respondents and seek response from them”.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed vociferously argued that one Yograj Singh S/o Waryam Singh executed a Gift Deed of a house situated at Janipur (Excelsior Lane), Jammu in favour of Ex-Deputy CM J&K, Kavinder Gupta S/o Bindraban Gupta on August 10, 1987 and the said Gift Deed was registered on August 11, 1987 and since August 10, 1987 Kavinder Gupta is the owner of the said house which is situated at Excelsior Lane, Janipur, Jammu and the Ex-Deputy CM has been illegally staying in a Ministerial Bungalow Special 4-A Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and the allotment made in his favour by the Estates Department is required to be cancelled as he owns his own residential house in Jammu.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed appearing for the petitioner further submitted that he has placed on record the names of such persons who are having their own residential accommodation in Jammu/ Kashmir and the same information has been gathered from the details as annexed with the Nomination Papers filed by the aforesaid persons with the Office of the Election Commission of India. Upon this, the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh directed Sr. AAG S.S. Nanda to submit the report with regard to the aforesaid information submitted by Advocate S.S. Ahmed appearing for the petitioner.
At this stage Sr. AAG S.S. Nanda submitted that he has filed a detailed Status Report on December 12, 2023 but the same is not on digitized record of the file. However, the Division Bench directed the Registry to digitize the same and place it on the record.
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further drew the attention of the Division Bench to the Status Report dated November 8, 2023 wherein it has been mentioned that certain individuals namely Sunil Sharma Ex-Minister, Bashir Ahmed Dar Ex-MLA and Mohd Amin Bhat Ex-MLA have not submitted any reply as to whether they possess any alternative residential accommodation at Jammu/Srinagar.
Upon this, the Division Bench directed the Estates Department to furnish the aforesaid requisite details by or before the next date of hearing on behalf of these persons.
Before the conclusion of the hearing, Advocate S.S. Ahmed apprised the Division Bench that 04 political persons namely Ex-MP Shamsher Singh Manhas, Ex-Minister Bali Bhagat and Ex-Mayor JMC Chander Mohan Gupta have been evicted from Government Accommodation in Jammu whereas Former Minister A.R. Rather has already vacated the Govt. Accommodation more than a year back.
Looking into the importance of the matter, the Division Bench directed the Registry to list PIL No.17/2020 alongwith connected applications for consideration on February 28, 2024.
