Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has directed the government to file an affidavit disclosing steps initiated for revising or drafting a new Master Plan for Sonamarg resort and also time-line for finalizing the same by or before the next date of hearing.
Hearing a decade and a half old public interest petition on the deliberate destruction of the Sonamarg hill station, Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M A Chowdhary directed Mohsin S Qadri, senior additional advocate general of J&K to file an affidavit disclosing the steps initiated for revising or drafting a new Master Plan and also time-line for finalizing the same by or before next date of hearing.
During the course of consideration of the PIL, the court noted that the respondent government authorities have filed a compliance report; however, they have not disclosed the current status regarding either the revised Master Plan or the new Master Plan.
Given that the existing Master Plan of Sonamarg is expiring in June 2025, the court thought it appropriate to seek personal appearance of the Commissioner Secretary, Tourism, and Commissioner Secretary, Housing department.
Accordingly Mohsin S.Qadiri, was asked to ensure presence of the officers in person or through virtual mode in the post-lunch session.
When the matter was taken up in the post-lunch session, the Special Secretary, Tourism, Mathoora Masoom, appeared through virtual mode, while the Chief Town Planner Bilkees Jeelani was present in person before the court. They submitted that they have already initiated the process for revising or drafting a new Master Plan.
Furthermore, the Deputy Solicitor General of India submitted “a compliance report regarding the land under the occupation of the Army has been prepared but the same is yet to be filed”.
The court observed although a copy of the report has been shown to us in which details with regard to the land under the occupation of the Army has been mentioned. In the paragraph no.4 of the report, the details have been provided in a tabulated form, however, the same does not provide the specific information regarding the authority under which the Army is holding the land.
Additionally, in the column (e) of the table, a certain parcel of land is shown as hired land, but there is no information from whom the land has been hired, it said.
The judges asked the Central government lawyer “to file a detailed affidavit showing allotments/hired agreement letters if any by or before next date of hearing” and listed the matter on December 5, 2024.
