SRINAGAR: Ending a prolonged legal impasse, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed a writ petition challenging the rehabilitation and allotment of shops in the Sector-6 Shopping Complex at Batamaloo, Srinagar, and vacated an interim stay that had remained in force for over 12 years. The Court said the prolonged litigation caused serious prejudice to the public exchequer and deprived more than a hundred eligible claimants of their livelihoods.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal, arose from a challenge to the rehabilitation process initiated after kiosks were demolished for road widening. The process was carried out in terms of a 2012 High Court judgment, which had constituted a high-level committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, to identify eligible claimants. The petitioners had questioned the committee’s expanded composition, issuance of public notices and the proposal to allot shops through a draw of lots.
Rejecting these arguments, the High Court held that co-opting additional officers and forming a sub-committee for verification did not amount to illegal delegation of powers. It ruled that issuance of public notices was an essential facet of transparency and fairness. On merits, the Court noted that the petitioners were declared ineligible on specific grounds, including discrepancies in age and identity, absence of Letters of Intent, failure to deposit mandatory premiums, subletting of kiosks and submission of incomplete or contradictory documents. Several petitioners were minors at the relevant time or did not feature in official records.
The Court held that with 112 eligible claimants for 108 shops, allotment by draw of lots was legally settled and could not be reopened through a fresh writ petition. It recorded that the interim stay since June 3, 2013, prevented the shopping complex from being put to productive use, resulting in a loss of nearly Rs 2.92 crore to the Srinagar Municipal Corporation in rent and premium. Vacating the stay, the High Court directed authorities to proceed with allotment without delay and issued a stern warning against misuse of judicial process, saying frivolous and dilatory litigation strikes at the heart of justice delivery and may attract exemplary costs in future. -(KL)
