For 35 yrs, man fighting to get his land vacated from 'illegal

For the last 35 years, a man has been fighting a battle to get his piece of land in Kishtwar district vacated by a former senior official of the state government who has allegedly "illegally occupied" it.
Ram Rattan Sharma, now 65, has knocked at various doors in pursuit of his mission but without any success.
"35 years ago, the then Tehsildar of my area illegally occupied my land and since then has been holding the possession of the same. I approached all the senior officers, including the Deputy Commissioner, the Divisional Commissioner and they agreed to the fact that the land belongs to me," said Sharma, a resident of Matta village.

Divisional Commissioner of Jammu region Pawan Kotwal, who had earlier dealt with the case, told PTI that he knows that the land belongs to Ram Rattan which has been illegally occupied by the former official.
"I remember issuing the order to get the land vacated during my previous term as the Divisional Commissioner Jammu. Though I am not aware about the present status but I will instruct the Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar to make sure that the possession of the land is handed over to Ram Rattan at the earliest as various inquiries in the past have established that the piece of land belongs to Ram Rattan Sharma," Kotwal said.

Sharma said that in 2006, he had filed a complaint with the then Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Pramod Jain who ordered an inquiry. After establishing that the land actually belongs to him, Jain had advised the then Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Kishtwar to hand over the possession of the land to Sharma, the complainant said.

"When no action was taken, I approached Sudhanshu Pandey, the then Divisional Commissioner Jammu, who again instructed the Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar to get the land vacated from the illegal occupation and hand over the same to me," he said.
Sharma says that the local revenue officials who were once subordinate to the former official failed to comply with the orders of the two successive Divisional Commissioners.

In 2010, Sharma once again approached the then Divisional Commissioner Jammu Pawan Kotwal who instructed the then Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar to implement his directions and hand over the possession of the land to the applicant (Sharma) within a period of 15 days failing which the contempt proceedings under law would be initiated against the defaulting officials.
However, the land still remains under the illegal occupation of the former official, Sharma said.
Deputy Commissioner (Kishtwar) Ghulam Nabi Balwan, when contacted, said, "I am aware of the case and the land belongs to Ram Rattan as per the records but there are some hurdles in getting it vacated.