Bungalow demolition stayed further as J&K ex-deputy CM’s wife seeks more time

Both Nirmal Singh’s wife and Jammu Development Authority want more time to reply to whistleblower’s petition

Former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Dr Nirmal Singh. (File photo)

The stay on the Jammu Development Authority’s (JDA) order to demolish former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh’s bungalow near Nagrota was further extended on Friday after his wife, Mamta Singh, was given “one final opportunity” to respond to whistleblower lawyer Muzzaffar Ali Shah’s petition to be impleaded in her appeal against the order.

During a virtual hearing, Rajesh Sekhri, member (judicial) of the Jammu and Kashmir Special Tribunal, allowed both Mamta Singh and the JDA to file their objections to the whistleblower who had exposed the BJP leader’s alleged unauthorised construction at Ban. Sekhri cited the “urgency and the public interest involved in the matter” to do so.

As Mamta and the JDA sought more time to file their objections, the whistleblower submitted that both parties, having already got more than a month to reply to his petition, were trying to prolong the matter. He requested that the matter be listed for a final hearing after impleading him, arguing that he would help the tribunal arrive at a “just conclusion”. The tribunal slated the next hearing for February 7, and stayed the bungalow’s demolition till then.

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It was on November 8, 2021, that the JDA issued its final demolition notice under Section 7(3) of the Building Control Operations Act, 1988, directing the BJP politician and his wife to demolish the bungalow on their own within five days, failing which it would raze the construction.However, Mamta successfully appealed against the demolition order at the tribunal.

The JDA, in its reply to Mamta’s appeal, alleged the former deputy chief minister and his wife had not obtained its permission for building the bungalow despite the area in Jammu district coming under its purview.

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