Srinagar, April 27: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh ruled that no person can be deprived of his property or source of livelihood without adhering to the principles of natural justice and without following the procedure prescribed under law.
Holding that adherence to the principles of natural justice is not an “empty formality”, the court set-aside an order issued by Collector Agrarian Reforms (Assistant Commissioner, Revenue), Anantnag which set aside revenue entries recorded in respect of land measuring 1 kanal 14 marlas situated at Khanabal Anantnag and Tehsildar, Anantnag, was directed to remove the petrol pump installed by the petitioner on spot.
The Collector in his order issued in November 2021 had also made a recommendation for cancellation and revocation of the license in favour of the petitioner’s petrol pump.
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar while terming it a “drastic” order said that such a “drastic” action against the petitioner could not have been made without affording him an opportunity of hearing.
The grievance of the petitioner, Zahoor Ahmad Bhat is that Collector Agrarian Reforms has passed the order without issuing a notice to him and without impleading him as a party despite availability of the report of the Tehsildar that the petitioner is running a petrol pump on the land in question.
He challenged the order on the grounds that the said land does not fall within the definition of ‘land’ as given in Section 2(9) of the Agrarian Reforms Act and, as such, Collector Agrarian Reforms did not have any jurisdiction to proceed under Section 10 of the Agrarian Reforms Act.
Justice Dhar noted that there is nothing in the impugned order to show that the petitioner was summoned during the proceedings.
The bench pointed out that the record does not even suggest that the petitioner has been given a chance to meet the contents of the application or to produce record or documents in controversion of the record produced by private respondents.
The court said that it was incumbent upon the Collector to implead the petitioner as a party to the proceedings and to provide him copies of all the material on the basis of which he has passed the order so as to afford an opportunity to the petitioner to meet the case of private respondents.
“Without undertaking such an exercise, respondent No.2 (Collector Agrarian Reforms) has passed a drastic order affecting the livelihood of the petitioner in an adverse manner, thereby besides directing his eviction from the property in question a recommendation regarding cancellation of his license for running the petroleum outlet has also been made,” Justice Dhar said.
The court ruled that the Collector has failed to follow the principles of natural justice and remanded the case back to him for a fresh decision.
Justice Dhar directed the Collector to afford an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner, including the right to file pleadings and documents, before arriving at a fresh decision in accordance with law and the observations made by the court.
