By PTI
JAMMU: A special tribunal on Monday said it will hear on February 17 a whistleblower’s plea impleading to make him a party in the case of alleged illegal construction of senior BJP leader Nirmal Singh’s palatial bungalow near Army’s ammunition sub-depot here.
Member (Judicial) Rajesh Sekhri of the J-K Special Tribunal, Jammu issued directions to list the of case of Mamta Singh, wife of the former deputy chief minister, for hearing arguments in the impleadment application moved by advocate Muzzaffar Ali Shah, who exposed the alleged unauthorised construction through an RTI application last year.
In December last year, the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) had said the house of the senior BJP leader falls in “major violation” as it was constructed without proper permission, contending the owner’s claim that they had raised the structure much before the area came under its jurisdiction.
The JDA made the observation when the much publicised appeal filed by Mamta Singh came up for hearing at the special tribunal which, however, extended the stay against the demolition notice served to the politician on November 8.
The JDA has served a notice to the BJP leader asking him to demolish his bungalow in Ban village of Nagrota.
The tribunal had earlier ordered that the impugned order dated November 8, 2021 shall remain in abeyance and parties were directed to maintain status quo on the spot.
As the case came up for virtual hearing before the bench headed by Sekhri, advocates Jugal Kishore Gupta and Rahul Sadhotra, appearing for Mamta Singh, submitted that they had filed objections to the impleadment application online on Monday .
At this stage, the court enquired from the counsel appearing for the JDA, Adarsh Sharma, whether the authority has also filed its objections to the application, upon which the counsel also said that the objections have been filed online, a court source said.
Both the appellant Mamta Singh and the JDA filed their objections to the impleadment application filed by the whistleblower in response to the “last and final opportunity” given by the tribunal during a hearing of the case last month.
Shah apprised the tribunal that on the last date of hearing, the counsel for the JDA had submitted that he shall produce the complete record of the case on this date and enquired whether the complete record had been placed before the court or not.
Upon this, the counsel for the JDA submitted that he does not want to produce any record now, and the record before the court is complete in all respects, the sources said.
After considering the contentions of the parties, the tribunal took on record the objections filed by the JDA and the appellant and directed the registry to list the matter on February 17 for hearing the arguments in the impleadment application.
The court has further extended the stay on demolition till next date of hearing, the source said.
Singh and his family had moved into the bungalow on July 23, 2020 after completing the work, even though the high court had in May 2018 directed authorities to ensure “strict implementation” of a 2015 notification barring general public from carrying out any construction within 1,000 yards of defence works.
The special tribunal, on November 13 last year, had granted relief to Singh after his wife moved an application through her lawyers and submitted that she is the owner in possession of a residential plot measuring four kanals, which was purchased on May 20, 2014 and the area where the land is situated is outside the jurisdiction of any development authority.
The counsel said the building was constructed in all respects in the beginning of 2017.
The high court, on May 7, 2018, had asked all parties to maintain status quo until final disposition of an Army plea which claimed that the building was in violation of laid down norms.
Raising security and safety concerns in view of the building’s proximity to an ammunition depot, the Centre had filed two petitions before the high court.
Singh had earlier claimed it was a political conspiracy against him.
