Last year, the Honorable High Court gave a clear order to reinstate the tenant’s rights in the case of old RK Studio/RK Enterprises fire incident from 2006 in the Main Bazaar, Pahalgam. The CEO and the SHO followed the court directions and gave over the possession to Sh. Ravinder Kumar, an old-time businessman who has lived in Pahalgam for the last 60 years.
A new year, a new story. With new officers at the helm in 2019, and under what seems like undue influence, the local Pahalgam administration is bent on violating the order and is pressurizing Mr. Ravinder at the behest the building owner Shamima Shera and her brother Bilal Ahmed Shera who also happen to be total outsiders. The duo has the CEO PDA, and SHO Pahalgam exert undue pressure to reverse implement the judgment.
After a suspicious fire had torn down the building in 2006, the owner had requested permission for the reconstruction of the gutted building. One of the conditions laid out was that the grant of the permission would have no impact on the landlord-tenant relationship. However, the shop was not handed over to the tenant, and the tenant approached the Honorable High Court for justice. After the landlord indulged in stalling tactics for four years, last year the court came down heavily on all the concerned authorities and as a result, in the presence of a number of authorities, the shop was handed over to Sh. Ravinder Kumar. It included the CEO, the Tehsildar, the SHO.
In the last couple of days, the situation started changing back again. The landlord has forcibly occupied a portion of the shop and has laid claim to a significant portion of the shop, all with open support from the same authorities that only months back had helped implement the high court order.
New officers in authority have changed their stand over a short period of time with no logic, no further court directive, but what can be nothing but undue influence in favor of one of the party. It is a travesty of hard-earned justice. Do the land’s courts have no other business but to hear the same cases again and again, and issue the same orders again and again, just because new officers simply choose to do it differently?
There is a lot going on in Pahalgam; the suspicious behavior of authorities that plays with the thin line between tenant/landlord relationships is just one of them. Especially with situations created by the kind of fires that may themselves have been suspicious in nature.
See coverage in press:
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/kashmir-s-rk-studio-struggling-to-reinvent-itself/799864.html
http://www.uttamhindu.com/Entertainment/110293/kashmir-rk-studio-struggling-to-reinvent-itself
This is absolutely a mockery of the judiciary . Immediate action needs to be taken by the concerned in restoring rightful possession of the premises to Mr Ravinder Kumar. Why is justice being denied to Mr Kumar ?
Government should take care of such personality who devoted is life time in the region. It’s vary shame to J&K government who is not taking care of such minority community who are still in Kashmir
Govt of jammu & kashmir should intervene immediately keeping in view the urgency of the situation and Justice should prevail at the end for the good.
Ravinder ji chose to live in Pahalgam in 60s leaving behind his flourishing businesses in Jalandhar. He chose to refuse even offers from Bollywood that came his way in early seventies through non other than legendary Raj Kapoor saab. All this cos he fell in love with Pahalgam.
In the process of doing businesses in Pahalgam, he created good number of employment opportunities for local people and was involved in philanthropy from time to time. Over decades, locals, benevolently and in reverence, started addressing him as “Ravi Saab” . It’s a sin of sorts to single out and trouble a person who devoted his life to Pahalgam.
Further, reading these news items, one wonders, on one hand Cetral and State Govt leaders are wanting those lacs of Kashmiri Pandits to come back to once again live in their native place in Kashmir and here local powers are trying to shoo away the LONE minority, sepogenarian (Ravinder Ji is around 80 years of age today)businessman, who has been restored his right to occupy RKStudio by H’ble Highcourt.
Pl, all come forward to help this cause in your own way.
We expect J&K Governor and Home Minister of India to kindly intervene and help enforce justice.
Vipin Kapoor
This type of coercion by the radicales should have been nipped in the bud when it started with the genocide of Kashmiri Pundits. Now it’s time these radicals are put in place. How dare they challenge the very fabric of Democracy & the Indian Constitution, ie the Court.
this is quite attrocious action and should be nipped immediately.Where are the sparties