Today Justice Rajesh Bindal of Jammu and Kashmir High Court directed the Registry to place the writ petition filed by Rajinder Singh Jamwal, a practicing Lawyer of J&K High Court to the larger Bench in view of public interest involved in the matter.
Justice Rajesh Bindal also directed that the instant writ petition be listed alongwith PIL No.19/2011 titled Prof. S.K. Bhalla V/s State of J&K & Ors wherein the Division Bench is monitoring the demarcation of JDA land in Jammu and Samba Districts and also its retrieval from land mafia to JDA. While referring the matter to the larger Bench, Justice Rajesh Bindal in the open court observed that the issues raised in the instant petition merit consideration by a Larger Bench where issues of similar nature are pending adjudication.
The petitioner who appeared in person submitted that he purchased leasehold rights from J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation Ltd. Jammu in the year 2014 for a 4-Bedroom Flat bearing No.201 at River Castle Apartment, Tawi Vihar Sidhra, Jammu. He further submitted that Managing Director of the J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation had made an agreement with a Builder ‘Horizon Construction’, a proprietary concern of Naresh Sabarwal S/o R.K. Sabarwal R/o 71/4, Trikuta Nagar, Jammu to construct residential Flats under the name and style as River Castle Apartments, Tawi Vihar, Sidhra with the collaboration of Horizon Constructions.
The petitioner further submitted that the Site Plan of the Project was approved by the JMC for the land measuring 09 Kanals 10 Marlas comprised in Khasra No.4 and 5 situated at Village Sidhra Jammu but the construction was raised on JDA land falling in Khasra No.3 min situated at Sidhra, Jammu.
During the course of arguments, the petitioner submitted that Senior Advocate indulged in misconduct by procuring an order in favour of a person namely Manjit Singh an employee of Builder Naresh Sabharwal who had no locus standi to file the writ petition bearing OWP No.1326/2014 and at that time one more senior Member of Jammu Bar who was the Chairman of J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation Ltd. and Senior Advocate did not implead Managing Director, J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation as party respondent in the said writ petition and concealed the fact of another writ petition (OWP No.1342 of 2012) on the same subject matter wherein no stay order has been passed by the High Court.
The petitioner also submitted that after obtaining the stay order in writ petition (OWP No.1326/2014), the J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation Ltd. sold maximum number of Flats to the innocent purchasers who were not aware of the fraud committed on them as the construction of the Flats had been raised over the JDA land when the site plan was approved for proprietary land.
He further submitted that a complaint was made to the JDA and Revenue Department regarding the whole fraud of constructing the flats on JDA land and thereafter JDA stopped the construction and at that stage, the Builder through its Employee Manjit Singh filed a writ petition (OWP No.1326/2014) through Senior Advocate B.S. Slathia and obtained an order by suppression to continue with the construction on JDA land. He further submitted that the transaction of the money from the purchasers is more than 100 crores but the construction was raised on JDA land.
After considering the submissions of the petitioner who appeared in person, the Single Judge Justice Rajesh Bindal, looking into the seriousness of the allegations and public interest involved in the matter referred the instant writ petition to the larger Bench with a further direction to the Registry to place the matter before the Division Bench on March, 18, 2020 alongwith two writ petitions i.e. OWP No.1342/2012 and OWP No.1326/2014. The Single Judge further directed that the instant writ petition be listed before the Division Bench on March, 18, 2020 alongwith PIL No.19/2011 titled Prof. S.K. Bhalla V/s State of J&K & Ors. JNF