Law: Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958

Section: S. 30 (5)

Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act (XXVIII of 1958), S. 30 (5) [as substituted by Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Ordinance (I of 1959)]-Part of evacuee building occupied by displaced person from Jammu and Kashmir-Settlement Authorities ,by declaring such building to be one house or shop cannot transfer the H hole building to a claimant in violation of subsection (5) of S. 30-Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act (XXV1Il of .1958), .S. 2, subsections (4) & (12) second provisos.   In accordance with the second proviso to subsection (4) of section 2 and the second proviso to subsection (12) of section 2 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958 the Settlement Authorities are empowered to order that a building, or premises consisting of more than one residential unit be deemed to be a shop or a house, for the purpose of transfer and if he does so the whole of the building can be transferred to a claimant yet the power conferred by the two provisos to subsections (4) and (12) of section 2 cannot be used for doing away with the rights conferred on displaced persons from the State of Jammu and Kashmir by subsection (5) of section 30 of the Act. By declaring that a building should be deemed to be a house, or a shop, for the purpose of transfer, the Settlement Authorities cannot allot the whole of that property to a claimant if a portion of it was occupied by a refugee from the State of Jammu and Kashmir, because until such refugees are repatriated, the authorities concerned are not competent to disturb them and to order their ejectment. The object behind subsection (5) of section 30 of the Act appears to be to maintain the status quo of such refugees, until they have been repatriated and that object cannot be-achieved if the authorities concerned are permitted to eject them and to transfer the property in their possession to other claimants.   JUDGMENT   Briefly stated, the facts of the case, out of which this writ petition has arisen, are as follows. The petitioner, Slier Ahmad, is a refugee from the State of Jammu and Kashmir. In the year 1951, shop…