Srinagar: High Court reiterated that it was very unfortunate that some former ministers, legislators, retired officers, politicians, etc., have illegally and unauthorizedly managed to continue to stay in the residential accommodation provided to them by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, though they are no longer entitled to such accommodation.

“Many of such persons continue to occupy residential accommodation commensurate with the office(s) held by them earlier and which are beyond their present entitlement,” a bench of Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey said while dismissing a petition filed by former National Conference MLA from Karnah Kafil-Ur-Rehman and others, seeking court’s direction to allow them to occupy the present accommodation which they are in possession for last more than two decades in MLA Hostel, MA Road here.

“The unauthorized occupants must realize that rights and duties go correlative to each other, inasmuch as the rights of one person entail the duties of another person, whereas, the duties of one person entail the rights of another person,” the court said, adding, “In this context, the unauthorized occupants must appreciate that their act of overstaying in the premise directly infringes the right of another. No law or direction can entirely control this act of disobedience, but for self-realization among the unauthorized occupants.”

The court said that the natural resources, public lands and the public goods, like Government

Bungalows, official residence are public property that belong to the people of the country.

“The ‘Doctrine of Equality’, which emerges from the concepts of justice and fairness, must guide the State in the distribution/ allocation of the same. Any former Minister/ Legislator/ Retired Officer/ Politician/ Political person, once he/ she demits the office, is on a par with the common citizen, though by virtue of the office held, he/ she may be entitled to security and other protocols as per assessment of the concerned filed agency,” the court said as per GNS, adding, “ But allotment of Government bungalow, to be occupied during the lifetime of such persons, would not be guided by the constitutional principle of equality”

The court said that it was of the considered view that there was no merit in the petition and accordingly dismissed it.

“Interim direction(s), if any subsisting as on date, shall stand vacated. As a necessary corollary, the continuous occupation/ possession of the Government accommodation in question by the petitioners is held to be bad in law,” the court said, adding, “The petitioners thus, shall, if still in occupation, hand over the possession of the said Government accommodation occupied by them within one month from today and the Government, in turn, shall also recover appropriate rent from the petitioners for the period during which they were in authorized/ unauthorized occupation of the same.”

The court however, made clear here that insofar as the contention of the petitioners regarding threat perception to the life and liberty of their own self as well as their family members is concerned, the petitioners shall be at liberty to approach the competent authority in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for seeking redressal of this grievance.  (GNS)

Srinagar: Property, including two residential houses and about 25 shops, were damaged in a massive fire in south Kashmir district of Kulgam.

Official sources said fire broke out in a residential house in the main market of Neehama in Kulgam on Tuesday. “Fire tenders were immediately rushed to douse off the leaping flames, clearly visible from a distance,” they said.

However, they said the flames spread to nearby structures, adding before the fire was brought under control two residential houses and 25 shops, situated on the top floor of a shopping complex, were damaged.

“No one was injured in the incident,” they said, adding the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

They said police has registered a case and initiated investigation into the cause of fire.

Srinagar: The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs (MHA) G K Reddy Tuesday said that a total of 42 militant organizations have been banned in Jammu and Kashmir for being involved in unlawful activities.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the MoS Home Reddy said the list of 42 organizations include the names of the militant organizations active in the country and the number of organizations which have received foreign support.

“The number of militants killed during the last three years and the current year till date. The number of people victimized by the terrorists during the said period till date, State-wise. The steps taken by the Government to stop militancy till date and the extent to which success has been achieved so far?” the reply reads.

The reply further states that  said that the Government has declared 42 organizations as militant organisations and listed their names in the First Schedule of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

“Militancy in India has largely been sponsored from across the border”, MHA said.  (KNO)

By: Bhat Imran

Srinagar: In order to put an end to transportation issues between the government and the private schools, authorities on Tuesday have sought substantiate documents  from the private school management to justify charging transportation fees.

The Committee for Fixation of Fee of Private Schools (FFRC) has directed the private school management to submit all supportive documents on the matter.

“In order to ascertain the genuineness of the information submitted by private schools and to enable the committee to take a final decision, the private school management shall finalise the supportive documents before the committee, FFRC said in an order.
“The FFRC after receiving various representations from stakeholders regarding charging of transport fee during the period of lockdown issued a notice to all private schools of UT of Jammu and Kashmir with the direction to submit information of various documents of transportation to FFRC,” it reads.

FFRC said that in absence of proof and evidence in support of the data submitted by the private schools, the committee may not be in a position to decide the matter in a just and proper manner.

“Therefore, all private Schools of UT of Jammu and Kashmir are directed to submit supportive documents including receipts in case of insurance, taxes, bank interest and fee received,” FFRC said.

The FFRC has also asked the management to submit the payroll of drivers and conductors who were on rolls during a lockdown period along with their contact details, copies of RC’s of vehicles owned, number of students availing bus facility and the bank statement wherever applicable—(KNO)

30 lakh beneficiaries registered, 23 lakh Golden Cards issued

Jammu:  Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo Tuesday chaired a meeting of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – SEHAT Scheme (AB-PMJAY-SEHAT) to review the progress of registration of beneficiaries and generation of Golden Cards in Jammu and Kashmir.

While chairing the meeting, Financial Commissioner stressed upon the officers for prompt issuance of SEHAT cards under the scheme to all registered beneficiaries and registration of all left outs on BIS Portal.

He directed the concerned authorities to start Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities on mission mode by roping in other departments for creating mass awareness in the districts for speeding up registration process.

The FC also directed the State Managers of Community Service Centres to activate Village Level Entrepreneurs so as to improve the registration process in rural areas.

Dulloo directed all the Medical Superintendents and Chief Medical Officers that the patients of the IPDs should be provided benefits under the scheme. He further directed them that special camps should be organised for increasing the registration process besides timely submission of claims and reply to queries should be done for ease of beneficiaries.

They were further asked to submit the registration report under SEHAT scheme on daily basis.

The FC also directed the insurance companies to release the payment to the hospitals without raising any unnecessary queries.

Highlighting about the scheme, Dulloo said that AB PM-JAY SEHAT Scheme is one of the most ambitious schemes of Government of Jammu & Kashmir and it is heartening to see residents availing benefits from reputed empanelled hospitals of Jammu & Kashmir under this scheme.

The meeting also discussed in detail the modalities for speeding up the registration for SEHAT scheme and directions were passes on to all the Deputy Commissioners to increase registration of beneficiaries under the scheme in their respective districts.

During the meeting, the FC was briefed about the registration process and the issuance of the Golden Cards.

The Financial Commissioner was informed that since launch of the scheme, 30,80,305 residents of J&K have already been registered under the scheme and 23,97,677 Golden cards have been issued to eligible beneficiaries.

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister on 26th December 2020 and it aims to provide Universal Health Insurance Coverage of Rs. 5.00 lakh per family on a floater basis in convergence with central government’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

Jammu:  The crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir police, which filed a supplementary chargesheet against four accused in the Habalas e-commerce multi-crore fraud in Poonch district, has established that the prime accused had diverted huge amounts of money that was collected from people for his personal gains and booked apartments in Delhi.

The crime branch produced supplementary chargesheet-II against accused Tariq Mehmood, Murtaza Ahmed, Imitiaz Ahmed and Ali Mohd in the high-profile case of multi-crore fraud, the CB officials said.

The accused were involved in duping gullible people of their money on the pretext of doubling it within three weeks time by inducement, they said.

The preliminary chargesheet of the case has already been produced by Crime Branch, Jammu against six accused persons in the court of Sub-Judge Mendhar on July 20, 2019 followed by production of supplementary chargesheet-I against two more accused on April 4 last year.

During the course of investigation, nine accused were arrested by the crime branch and recoveries were made on their disclosure in the form of both cash and kind, including 5 vehicles, besides seizing and sealing immoveable property in the form of shops belonging to the accused in Poonch.

In the supplementary chargesheet, it has also been established that prime accused Tariq has diverted a huge amount of money collected from people for his personal gains, as the probe showed it has been found that the accused booked a flat in Delhi for an amount of Rs 1.5 crore for which he has paid consideration amount of Rs 28 lakh to the concerned.

Moreover, accused Ali Mohammad who was evading arrest had fled to Saudi Arabia and was arrested by the crime branch team after a lot of effort, it said.

The chargesheet has been produced in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Poonch for judicial determination.

As per the case diary, a written complaint was lodged at Mendhar police station in Poonch district by Abdul Karim and others, alleging therein that the above accused among the other co-accused induced and duped the gullible people of Mendhar and its surrounding areas by offering online shopping of quality products on huge discounts.

Along with the discounts, gift items and cash deposits were offered with the promise of doubling the money in three weeks time and thereby duping thousands of people of their hard earned money running into crores of rupees.

Initially, the case was registered at Mendhar police station but being a case of immense public importance, the investigation was transferred to the crime branch and the probe taken up, they said.

In accordance, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted by Crime Branch, Jammu for an in-depth investigation of the case.

Srinagar: Roads to dozens of far-flung and remote villages, including those near the Line of Control (LoC), reopened on Tuesday after remaining closed for a day due to slippery road conditions following fresh snowfall.

However, traffic to the border town of Gurez continued to remain suspended since January 1 due to accumulation of about several feet of snow on Razdan top and adjoining areas.

“Dozens of far-flung and remote villages, including Machil, Kernah and Tanghdar, were reconnected with district headquarter in Kupwara on Tuesday after clearance of snow and improvement in weather conditions,” an official of Police Control Room (PCR), Kupwara said.

He said Sadhna top, Z gali and other tops received about 5 to 10 inches of fresh snowfall on Monday, resulting in closure of these roads. However, he said Border Road Organization (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the border roads, pressed into service sophisticated machines and cleared the snow.

He said traffic to border town of Keran was also plying normal.

An official of Police Control Room (PCR) from Bandipora told UNI that Gurez remained closed for traffic since January 1 due to accumulation of several feet of snow. “Razdan pass, connecting Gurez, Neeru and dozens of other areas near LoC with district headquarters Bandipora, received fresh snowfall on Monday hampering the snow clearance operation,” he said.