Land Grant Rules 2022 Notified By Lieutenant Governor Without President's Consent Not Valid: Plea Filed In Jammu & Kashmir High Court

A petition has been filed before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court challenging the Land Grant Rules 2022 notified by the UT's administrator, the Lieutenant Governor in December last year. It states that the Rules, having been notified without President's consent, are bad in law.

A single bench of Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul on Monday ordered “no coercive action” be taken against the petitioner, who had been granted State land on lease in terms of the erstwhile Land Grant Act 1960, that now stand repealed with notification of the 2022 Rules.

The petitioner states that the LG has powers to make rules for the Union Territory subject to the direction and control of the President. "In the present case the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is under the President's Rule, and the rule making power has been exercised by the Lieutenant Governor without any assent from the President of India" the petitioner pleaded.

It is further submitted that under the new Rules, the government has determined all type of leases including the ones already executed under the Land Grant Act 1960 and in doing so, it has travelled beyond the permissible limits of its rule-making power and virtually replaced the parent Act.

The petitioner through Advocate Aseem Shawney contends that certain government land had been leased out to him under the parent Act for a period of 99 years. However, vide the impugned notification his "alive" lease is being subjected to determination afresh.

It is further averred that the lease hold right granted to the petitioner has been pending extension as per the provisions of law/ terms of the deed as well as explicit assurances made by the respondents, and that the petitioner has already obtained the necessary permissions and approvals from the appropriate authorities for construction of building and commencement of project on the leasehold land.

Inviting the attention of the court towards the huge investments that the petitioner has made from 1982 on the leased land and apprising the court about the fresh investments he was about to make in view of obtaining NOC from all departments and in line with the master plan of Jammu, the petitioner pleaded that despite all this an extremely unconstitutional and illegal piece of Rules have been put into place leaving the petitioner under imminent threats of the violations of his constitutional and statutory/ contractual rights.

Terming the Rules as contrary to the constitutional mandate enshrined under Articles 14, 19,21, 300A of the Constitution, the petitioner submitted that the kind of sweeping powers that the impugned Rules have conferred upon the executive authority have created the space for manifest arbitrariness which is a strong/sole ground recognized by the Supreme Court to be invoked to strike down not only the Rules but also legislative enactment.

"These are unbridled powers, of un-canalised nature, have been giving wide discretion without guidance and without formulating policies in the hands of the executive body which is not permitted under the Parent Act and Constitution of India", the petitioner contends.

After hearing the counsel for the petitioner at length, Justice Koul issued notice to the Union of India through Home Secretary, LG of UT of J&K, Commissioner Secretary to Govt Revenue Department, Divisional Commissioner, DC Jammu etc and listed the matter again on 17th April 2023 for further consideration.

Case Title: Syed Niyaz Ahmad Shah Vs Union of India & Ors.

Counsel For Petitioner: Mr Aseem Sawhney.

Counsel For Respondent: Ms Monika Kohli Sr AAG.

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