Jammu and Kashmir High Court imposes ₹14 lakh damages on police for failure to pay compensation awarded to land owner 14 years ago

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh recently imposed damages of ₹14 lakh on Jammu and Kashmir police for a delay of 14 years in paying the compensation awarded to the land owner for acquiring his land (Devindera Nath Giri vs State of J&K an.A Division Bench of justices comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Moksha Kazmi directed the Revenue Department to make the payment in case the indenting department fails to pay. "Since the Police Department has failed in providing the necessary fund for the payment of compensation to the petitioner for the last fourteen years, we impose damages of ₹14.00 lakh upon it to be paid in addition to the above compensation and interest for the loss caused due to delay. The damages shall be paid to the petitioner within three months," the order said.Besides the damages, the Court also directed the respondents to make payment of the balance amount of compensation for land with statutory interest as per section 35 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1990, as set out in the award dated October 29, 2008, within a period of six weeks..The Bench said that the Police Department for whom the land has been acquired shall make available the necessary fund within a period of one month. Even if the Police Department fails to provide the funds, the Revenue shall make the payment and recover it from the Police Department with interest, it added..The Bench added that police has failed in providing the necessary fund for the payment of compensation to the petitioner in lieu of taking his land.."Since the Police Department has failed in providing the necessary fund for the payment of compensation to the petitioner for the last fourteen years, we impose damages of Rs. 14.00 lacs upon it to be paid in addition to the compensation and interest for the loss caused due to delay", the Court directed..The damages shall be paid to the petitioner within three months, it added..The petitioner Devindera Nath Giri was claiming payment of compensation as per the award passed by the authority concerned in the year 2008 in respect of the land that was acquired. According to the award, the petitioner was entitled to compensation of ₹ 84,18,000 for the acquired land out of which a certain amount was paid and the balance of ₹75,47,680 remained to be paid..The Revenue department submitted before the Court that the balance compensation could not be paid to the petitioner as the indenting department had not made available necessary fund..The Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajouri, in his affidavit, stated that the Police Department had acquired 18 kanal and 6 marlas of land situated at village Rampur, Tehsil and District Rajouri for the purpose of raising of permanent structures including residential quarters..He further stated that the acquisition proceedings had been initiated in the year 1988 as per the final award. The Police Department took up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri and it was stated that excessive compensation was awarded and that the Police Department was unnecessarily penalized, SSP added..Court said that the compensation has to be provided by the identing department and it has to be paid through the acquiring department i.e., the Revenue..Aditya Gupta, Advocate was representing petitioner, where the respondents were represented by S.S. Nanda, Sr. AAG.[Read Order]