IRTIZA MUSHTAQ Vs. STATE OF JAMMU & KASHMIR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a practicing lawyer of this Court claiming to be a Right to Information (RTI) activist as well, has filed the present petition in public interest, wherein a challenge has been thrown to the allotments made by the respondent No. 3 in favour of respondent Nos. 5 to 13 by virtue of various allotment orders spanning from the year 1993 till 2015 and simultaneously, the petitioner has prayed for the eviction of the private respondents from the Municipals Flats situated at Gandhi Nagar Jammu and also for recovery of rent at the market value from the respondent Nos. 5 to 13. Yet another prayer has been made to direct State Vigilance Organization (Now Anti Corruption Bureau) to register an FIR under section 5(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act.

(2.) It is stated that the Jammu Municipal Corporation has adopted a pick and choose policy for the purpose of allotment of Municipal Flats/Quarters located at posh locality of Gandhi Nagar Jammu in favour of its officers who had served its senior positions and later superannuated and the allotments have been extended for a further period of 40 years at a meager rent of Rs. 600/- to Rs. 900/- per month. It is also the case of the petitioner that the Municipal Corporation has allotted the Municipal Flats/Quarters at Gandhi Nagar, Jammu to some private persons as well at a meager rent arbitrarily just on the basis of pick and choose policy without adopting any rational criteria. The petitioner claims to have obtained an information under RTI Act, regarding the allotments made by the Jammu Municipal Corporation.

(3.) The following instances of illegal allotments have been narrated by the petitioner.