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| HC restores shops | | BAHU PLAZA ALLOTMENTS | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, June 1: In a significant order, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court today quashed the order of state government which had cancelled allotment of 31 shops by Jammu Development Authority to several private persons at the posh Bahu Plaza.
The order was cancelled by then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when media reported irregularities and flouting of norms in allotment of a shop/hall to one of his brothers.
The High Court today quashed the Government order No 1126-GAD dated September 22, 2007, directing the JDA to cancel the allotments of 31 shops/ halls situated at South Block, Bahu Plaza Complex Jammu and take appropriate steps for restoration of property.
While allowing a batch of petitions challenging the impugned government order Justice JP Singh of J&K High Court Jammu Wing today, in a landmark judgment, quashed the impugned order.
The Government order dated September 22, 2007 has been questioned in batch of writ petitions justifying the allotments of shops/halls in the favour of the petitioners and pleaded that the Government order impugned, canceling their allotment was illegal and unwarranted and it had been issued without complying with the statutory requirements of issuing notice to the petitioners in terms of proviso to section 37 of the Act, before issuing directions which affect the right of the petitioners, and that the state Government had initiated action directing cancellation of allotments on the basis of truncated information which the Vice Chairman of JDA had supplied to it. It is stated that the decision taken by the Board of Directors JDA in its 65th meeting providing for its earlier board resolution for making the allotment of shops/ halls on first come first served basis, to remain operational until all the shops/halls were allotted had not been brought to the notice of the Government by the Vice Chairman of the Authority.
According to the petitioners the Government had cancelled the allotments to avoid embarrassment to then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad whose brother Sajjad Ahmed Azad had been allotted space at Bahu Plaza Complex Jammu in violation of the decision of the Authority to first come first serve rules.
Justice JP Singh, in a much publicized case of allotment of 31 shops/halls, after hearing battery of lawyers, observed that the Government order impugned in the petitions even otherwise leaves nothing with the authority except to pass resultant order for cancellation of allotments and initiation of steps for restoration of allotted property. The order passed by the State Government, therefore, puts the petitioners with serious civil consequence affecting the rights they had acquired in the allotment properties after paying money. The state Government was required to comply with the requirement of the proviso in providing reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioners before passing the impugned Government order which pre-judicially affects the rights of the petitioners in the allotted shops and space. The stand taken by the State Government in its response to the writ petitions with the authority had not given publicity to its policy decision of serving persons on first come first serve basis for allotment of the premises available at Bahu Plaza complex Jammu and the allotments being bad on that account, and no opportunity of hearing was required to be afforded to the petitioners, is thus not tenable, in that neither the government order indicates the state government to have issued the order on the basis of the authority having not given publicity to its decision on making allotment of first come first served basis. All had a Gala time and enjoyed the first relaxation break of this session.
It was the statutory obligation of the Government to hear the petitioners before issuing the impugned order directing the JDA to cancel the allotments of shops and halls of the petitioners. Thus found to have been issued in violation of the mandatory provisions of the proviso appended to section 37 of the Act, the Government order impugned in these petitions is liable to be quashed, additionally because it is arbitrary and in violation of the principles of natural justice offending Article 14 of the Constitution of India. These petitions are allowed and the impugned Government order is quashed, the Court ordered. However, the State Government is, left free to examine the issue as to the impropriety or illegality of the allotments of the shops/halls at Bahu Plaza Complex Jammu made by the JDA and pass appropriate orders/directions in this behalf as warranted under law after affording reasonable opportunity of hearing to those who may be pre-judicially affected by the order, the Court observed. JNF
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