New Delhi: The Centra Bureau of Investigation has launched its probe into alleged violations of the master plan of Patnitop area in Jammu and Kashmir, dispatching 30 officers of its special team to inquire into encroachments by hoteliers in the region with the role of a former minister under its scanner, officials said Wednesday.
The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, December 31, 2019 directed it to complete the probe within eight weeks and submit its report, they added.
It is alleged that 59 hotels and resorts are allegedly violating master plan of the Patnitop area, informed officials.
The team, at present camping at Patnitop, Udhampur and Jammu, has already collected documents of 50 properties in question from various authorities of the newly carved out Union Territory.
“This order has been passed on a PIL filed by the president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, Patnitop, wherein he has alleged glaring violations of the master plan of the Patnitop area, resulting in 70 per cent of hotels and restaurants having been constructed without permission,” a CBI official stated.
In its order, a division bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajesh Bindal had directed the central probe agency to look into all aspects of the matter, including issuing of licences and permissions granted within the jurisdiction of the Patnitop Development Authority, and submit a report within eight weeks.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Harcharan Singh, owner of Krystal Hotel and Restaurant at Patnitop, seeking demolition of illegal or unauthorised buildings raised in the green buffer areas of the hill resort.
The bench noted that the report shows several of these guest houses and hotels are misusing the land, which has been earmarked for agriculture and the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 is applicable.
According to the report, the Mariyam Begum Hotel is misusing green buffer land and has constructed a building put to commercial use, it pointed out.
It is alleged that the hotels were running at Patnitop without any registration and authorisation from competent authority, officials said.
“Non compoundable deviation by property owners in Patnitop area was illegally compounded by a special tribunal which was not challenged in most of the cases by Patnitop Development Authority,” an official said. The authorities took no action despite non deposit of compounding fee by the hoteliers, he added.
PTI