The Jammu and Kashmir High Court asked the state to apprise the Court as to whether the “Central Assistance Scheme for One Time Settlement of DPs and PoKJ and Chammb, under Prime Minister’s Development Package, 2015” is going to lapse on 03.12.2023.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice M.A. Chowdhary heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed with the basic grievance raised pertaining to certain anomalies in the documentation requirements for the “Central Assistance Scheme for One Time Settlement of DPs and PoKJ and Chammb, under Prime Minister’s Development Package, 2015” which was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, for rehabilitation package of PoJK DPs of 1947 and Chhamb DPs of 1965 & 1971.
As per the said Scheme, the DPs of 1947 and Chhamb DPs of 1965 &1971, are subjected to different document submission criteria. In the case of Rural DPs from 1947, apart from other documents, they are required to submit; (i) Form A duly certified by PRO Jammu/Deputy PRO Jammu or Loan ledger duly certified by PRO Jammu/Deputy PRO Jammu and Nominal Roll (Registration No.) duly certified by PRO Jammu/Deputy PRO Jammu (Mandatory); (ii) in case of Urban DPs of 1947 order of allotment of plot/quarter (Mandatory). On the other hand, Chhamb DPs of 1965 & 1971 do not have to submit these documents.
According to the petitioner, the insistence on the aforesaid two documents only in respect of DPs of 1947, has created serious hurdles and inconveniences to the applicants who belong to DPs of 1947, inasmuch as, the concerned authorities have not issued these certificates.
In response, S.S. Nanda, Senior AAG, submits that issuing the required certificates for DPs of 1947 should not pose any difficulty for the authorities.
The Bench is of the view that if the said certificates could be issued, there would be no difficulty on the part of the beneficiaries to seek benefits under the Scheme, in which event, we may not be required to examine as to why differential treatment has been meted out in respect of DPs of 1947.
Pending consideration, S.S. Nanda was directed to inform the Court by the next date, as to whether any certificates have been issued by the competent authority in respect of DPs of 1947 and if not, the reasons for not doing so. We are also of the tentative view that differential treatments in respect of DPs of 1947 and the Chhamb of 1965 and 1971 relating to similar benefits may invite strictures of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
Siddhant Gupta, counsel for the petitioner, has informed the Court that the aforesaid Scheme is going to lapse on 31.12.2023, in terms of a resolution passed by respondent No. 2 itself, instead of 31.03.2024 as mentioned in the Scheme.
Accordingly, the matter will be listed again on 21.11.2023.