J&K&L High Court Dismisses Plea By Ex-Minister Chaudhary Lal Singh Against Eviction From Government Bungalow

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by ex-minister Chaudhary Lal Singh against evicting him from the government-allotted bungalow in Jammu's Gandhi Nagar.

The pronouncement came on a plea moved Lal Singh seeking injunction against his eviction till the government re-assesses the security threat to him.

Earlier also, Singh had moved a plea challenging the proceedings under Jammu and Kashmir Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized occupation) Act, 1988 that had been initiated against him only to withdrawn the same on November 11, 2022 after a single-judge of the High Court gave him six weeks to vacate the government accommodation.

In his plea, the petitioner contended that the persons who are under threat perception are occupying government accommodation, but a departure has been made by the government in his case because of political rivalry, since he is a political opponent of the present dispensation at the Centre and in the Union Territory.

The petitioner further stated that after he had withdrawn his earlier petition as he had come to know that in the present PIL titled Prof. SK bhalla V/s UT of J&K, the Government of India had taken a categoric stand that people, who are occupying the government accommodation for security reasons, need to be protected.

Contesting the plea the respondents countered by stating that the issue of security assessment was different from entitlement to government accommodation and since the applicant has already availed the statutory remedy under the Public Premises Act and accordingly withdrawn the earlier petition, the present application is liable to be dismissed.

Adjudicating upon the matter Acting Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Rajesh Sekhri observed that security assessment and entitlement to government accommodation are two different issues and cannot be intermingled to defeat the process of law.

There is no doubt that the applicant, being a former Minister, Member of the Parliament and Member of the Legislative Assembly is entitled to proper security cover, which is required to be reviewed/re-assessed from time to time, however, there is nothing on the record to suggest that there is any policy or guideline which obligates the Central Government or the Government of UT for that matter to provide official accommodation to Z-Category protectee, the bench recorded.

Pointing out to the fact that an earlier petition filed by him against proceedings initiated against him under the Public Premises Act was dismissed as withdrawn by learned Single Bench of this Court the bench recorded,

"Though applicant has admitted that the writ petition filed by him against proceedings initiated against him under the Public Premises Act was dismissed as withdrawn by the learned single bench of this Court, yet he has come up with the instant applicant with the sole intention to prolong his unauthorized occupation of the Government Bungalow, when the period of six weeks granted to him for vacation of the Bungalow would expire tomorrow on 27-12-2022. This amounts of an abuse of the process of law".

In view of the aforesaid discussion, the bench maintained that the present application filed by the applicant is nothing but an abuse of the process of law and imposed a cost ₹25,000 on Singh for occupying the bungalow beyond the six week deadline given to him earlier by the Court.

Case Title : Prof. S. K. Bhalla Vs UT of J&K

Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (JKL) 268

Coram : Acting Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Rajesh Sekhri.

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