J&K court orders Army unit to face suit for felling trees

SRINAGAR: The court of principal district judge in J&K's Bandipora has ordered the Army authorities to face a suit filed by one Ghulam Rasool Wani charging a particular unit of the Army with cutting down trees on his field. The court’s decision came on Saturday in response to the preliminary issues raised in the civil case filed by Wani, a resident of Chuntimullah in Bandipora district.

Plaintiff Wani's counsel advocate Shafeeq Ahmad argued that the suit should not be rejected under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990. He emphasized that the suit sought compensation from the defendants for felling trees standing over the plaintiff’s property, which was under occupation of the particular army unit.

Representing defendants Union of India and others, advocate Kamail Singh contended that the suit required prior sanction from the central government as per the provisions of the special powers Act.

After considering the arguments, the court concluded that the suit was civil in nature and did not require prior sanction. It highlighted Section 4 of the special powers Act and stated that the defendant's status was that of a tenant, who can make improvements but cannot cut down trees on the rented land. Observing this, the court ordered the case to proceed further and scheduled the next hearing for July 4.