Srinagar, June 9: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh Friday reiterated that immovable properties belonging to migrants should be deemed to be in possession of District Magistrate (DM) irrespective of the nature of possession of any person other than the migrant himself.
A bench of Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul also held that if a person, occupying migrant property unauthorisedly, fails or refuses to surrender its possessions, force should to be used by the competent authority under Jammu and Kashmir Migrants Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997.
The court said this while dismissing a petition against an order issued by District Magistrate, Kulgam on May 29, 2015, whereby Tehsildar Devsar was directed to proceed on spot to evict the illegal occupant and take over the possession of the land measuring 2 kanal 17 marla at Chowgam tehsil.
The petitioner had stated that he had been in continuous peaceful exclusive possession of land prior to the year 1971.
He had stated that the rights of ex-owner S Pandith regarding the land were extinguished under Section 4 of Agrarian Reforms Act and the petitioner was declared as prospective owner.
He contended that the land was later on mutated in his favour under Section 12 of the Agrarian Reforms Act and he came to be in absolute possession of this land.