HC orders inclusion of 36 Kashmiri Pandits in draw of lots for Bahadurgarh residential society

The Punjab and Haryana high court has on Tuesday directed the Haryana government to include 36 Kashmiri Pandits in a draw of lot for allotment of plots in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh

The Punjab and Haryana high court has on Tuesday directed the Haryana government to include 36 Kashmiri Pandits in a draw of lot for allotment of plots in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh. The draw is to take place on Wednesday.

The pleas were pending since 2019 for handover of plots to them, which they say were purchased by them in 1991-93. (iStock)

“The court noted that the Kashmiri Pandits have been ousted from their homes for last 30 years due to terrorism. Hence, ordered that all genuine Kashmiri Pandits be included in draw of lots for plots in Bahadurgarh which is scheduled for April 6, 2022,” their counsel Padamkant Dwivedi said, after the hearing.

The pleas were pending since 2019 for handover of plots to them, which they say were purchased by them in 1991-93. A contempt petition has also been moved by the Kashmiri Pandits, proceedings in which are underway. In all 50 odd persons are affected in this case.

As per their lawyer, the land in question bought by them was acquired by the government in 1995 and released back to HSVP in 1997. But they were not given physical possession. Necessary formalities were completed.

The cases of 150 odd applicants were cleared, but in case 36 persons, their names have been dropped from the draw of lots process due to technical reasons.

In August 2020, the high court had ordered that the petitioners be considered provisionally in the draw of lots. Despite this order, the authorities had sent a letter on March 25 addressed to the president of the Resident Welfare Association of displaced Kashmiri Pandit plot holders in which many of the petitioners have not been included in the list, as per the plea.

Dwivedi said due to long delay and entry of persons with vested interests, the claims of genuine Kashmiri Pandits, including the petitioners, are getting affected. “They are a group of unfortunate families who became first and easy target of fundamentalist terrorism in Kashmir in 1989-90 and were forced to leave their homes,” Dwivedi added.

During 1991-1993, around 180-190 families, including the petitioners, had purchased small residential plots behind Sarai Aurangabad village on the outskirts of Bahadurgarh in Haryana but are yet to get possession of their plots, he added.