The hearing of final arguments in appeal of Mamta Singh spouse of former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Dr. Nirmal Singh, against the JDA’s demolition notice regarding the alleged illegal construction of a palatial house at village Ban (Nagrota), District Jammu was again deferred on Wednesday.
The Counsel of Mamta Singh’s has filed a fresh Miscellaneous Application regarding the applicability of ‘JAMMU & KASHMIR UNIFIED BUILDING BYELAWS-2021’ to the appellant’s case.
The Presiding Officer of the J&K Special Tribunal Rajiv Gupta (Judicial Member) has directed the JDA’s Counsel Advocate Adarsh Sharma to file the objections to the Miscellaneous Application by or before the next date of hearing i.e. February 7, 2023 and has further directed the JDA’s Counsel to provide advance copy of the objections to the appellant’s counsel so that the arguments on the maintainability of the application can be heard on the next date of hearing.
It may be recalled that on the last date of hearing, the final arguments could not be heard as the matter was adjourned at the request of the appellant Mamta Singh’s counsel on the ground that the Arguing Counsel in the matter i.e. Sr. Advocate R.K. Gupta was not available for advancing the arguments on behalf of the appellant.
It is apt to mention herein that even earlier the matter was adjourned on various hearings due to the non-availability of the Bench-II at J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu as the then Presiding Judicial Member of the Bench had been elevated as the Additional Judge of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh.
It may be recalled that Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh and his wife Mamta Singh were issued a Notice under section 7(3) of the Control of Building Operations Act,1988 for raising construction of a Palatial House at village Ban,Nagrota without seeking prior permission from Jammu Development Authority.
The JDA initially did not act against the former Deputy Chief Minister and later on an RTI application filed by the whistle-blower Advocate Muzzaffar Ali Shah, the JDA disclosed that despite being informed about the alleged illegal construction from the Khilafwarzi Wing, JDA did not proceed against the high profile violators.
Subsequently, on the complaint of whistle-blower Advocate Muzzaffar Ali Shah, the JDA issued a demolition notice to the former Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh and his wife Mamta Singh directing them to remove the illegal construction on their own within five days failing which the JDA’s Khilafwarzi Wing would remove the violations.
Against the said demolition notice, Mamta Singh had filed an appeal before the J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu and the Special Tribunal.