J&K High Court for resumption of demolitions in Dal Lake

Srinagar, Mar 7: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the Lakes And Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) to resume demolition of unauthorised and illegal structures in the world famous Dal Lake.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Bashir Ahmed Khan and Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, also directed the state Chief Secretary to convene a high-level meeting of department heads and take a final decision regarding transfer of the 'Rakh Arth' land to the LAWDA.

The bench passed the orders after examining the compliance reports submitted by the state Director General of Police, the Additional Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department, the Inspector General of Police Kashmir range, the LAWDA Vice- Chairperson and other senior officials who were present in the court during the hearing of the case.

The LAWDA Vice-Chairperson has also been directed to take steps to locate all those dwellers who were allotted land at Bemina, but returned to Dal Lake.

The court asked the authorities to forcibly evict all these dwellers and arrest them in case they show any resistance.

''We have gone through the reports and examined the compliance shown by the authorities, but we find that in certain aspects the officials concerned have shown casualness which constrained us to summon the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and the IGP Kashmir,'' the court said.

The court also took serious note of the changing stand by the authorities regarding transfer of the 'Rakh Arth' land to the LAWDA and said that it had noticed lack of coordination between various departments as reflected in the reports.

PTI