Jammu and Kashmir High Court dismisses plea by ex-minister Chaudhary Lal Singh against eviction from government bungalow; imposes ₹25K costs

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh 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 [Prof. S. K. Bhalla V/s UT of J&K and Ors.]..Singh had moved the Court seeking injunction against his eviction till the government re-assesses the security threat to him.A division bench of acting Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Rajesh Sekhri said that security assessment and entitlement to government accommodation are two different issues and cannot be intermingled to defeat the process of law..The Court also imposed cost ₹25,000 on Singh for occupying the bungalow beyond the six week deadline given to him earlier by the Court.He had earlier filed a writ petition challenging the proceedings under Jammu and Kashmir Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized occupation) Act, 1988 initiated against him.The same was withdrawn on November 11, 2022 after a single-judge of the High Court gave him six weeks to vacate the government accommodation.Singh then filed the present application in an already pending public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by one SK Bhalla.."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the writ petition filed by him against proceedings initiated against him under the Public Premises Act was dismissed as withdrawn by the learned single bench of this Court, yet he has come up with the instant applicant with the sole intention to prolong his unauthorized occupation of the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," the Court said..The present application filed by the applicant is nothing but an abuse of the process of law, the bench added..Senior Advocate KS Johal and advocates Supreet Singh and SS Ahmed appeared for Singh. .Singh was Minister for Forest, Environment, Ecology of J&K in PDP-BJP coalition government in J&K. He represents the Basohli constituency in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and is president of the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan, a political party..Singh moved the Court by way of an application in an already pending public interest litigation filed by one SK Bhalla.Singh moved the Court contending that persons, who are under threat perception, are occupying government accommodation, but a departure was made by the government in his case and he was asked to vacate the bungalow.The government took a different view 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, it was submitted..He further stated that after he had withdrawn his earlier petition, he came 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..He placed reliance on various orders passed by the High Court to assert that till threat perception is re-assessed by the government, persons occupying government accommodation should not be disturbed..Additional Advocate General Amit Gupta and Deputy Advocate General KDS Kotwal, appearing on behalf of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, argued that the issue of security assessment was different from entitlement to government accommodation.Since the applicant, having already availed the statutory remedy under the Public Premises Act, had himself withdrawn the petition, the present application is liable to be dismissed, they contended..The High Court said that there was no doubt that 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 was nothing on the record to suggest that any policy or guideline obligates the Central government or the Government of Union Territory to provide official accommodation to Z-Category protectee..The Court, therefore, dismissed the application and imposed costs of ₹25,000 on Singh.[Read Order]