On Friday, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh confirmed its earlier ruling that any person other than the migrant himself who is in possession of the migrant’s immovable property must be treated as the DM. This is true regardless of the manner of possession.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Migrants Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection, and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act of 1997, a bench presided over by Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul ruled that the competent authority may use force against an unauthorised occupant of migrant property if the occupant fails or refuses to surrender the property.
This was remarked as the court dismissed a petition challenging a May 29, 2015 order from the District Magistrate in Kulgam, which had instructed the Tehsildar Devsar to physically remove an unlawful resident from property comprising 2 kanals and 17 marla in the Chowgam tehsil and take ownership of it.
The petitioner claimed he had been in exclusive, peaceful ownership of the property since at least 1971.
In his appeal, he claimed that the land’s former owner, S Pandith, had his rights terminated under the Agrarian Reforms Act’s Section 4.
He claimed that the land had been “mutated” in his favour under Section 12 of the Agrarian Reforms Act, making him the sole owner of the property.
