Documents reveal serious discrepancies in lease
Abrar A. Mattoo
SRINAGAR : According to various government documents that contain data on hotels, huts, and shops in Gulmarag, the lease granted to all the commercial establishments at the tourist resort have long expired, except for the Hotel Khyber, which puts a question mark on the whole exercise conducted by the revenue officials.
All the leases on commercial establishments at Gulmarag were renewed/granted during the mean years of 1979 and 1981. Similarly, the lease on the estate where the Hotel Khyber currently stands was renewed over 60 Kanals and 12 Marlas, for a period of forty years Under G.O. No. 547-UD-1978 in favor of Sardar Mangat Singh in the year 1981.
This lease was due to expire in 2021, but surprisingly, the owners of the resort have been allowed to enjoy another lease that supposedly expires in 2029, on the same estate that was leased out in 1939 by the erstwhile Dogra monarchy of Jammu and Kashmir to another individual, namely Surrinder Singh Jowhar, for a period of ninety years.
While the records at Gulmarag Development Authority still hold Sardar Mangat Singh as the current lessee, in a clear contradiction to GDA records, the Revenue documents state Amar Jeet Singh and Parabjeet Singh, both the sons of the original lessee, Surinder Singh Jowhar, as the leaseholders of the estate where the Hotel Khyber currently stands.
But according to Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Act–1960, the said lease stands canceled, or Determined, in the language of the law.
Furthermore, though the lease that was granted by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in 1981 in favor of Sardar Mangat Singh for a period of forty years and was due to expire in 2021, the Gulmarag development Authority still considers it ‘live’.
According to a Gulmarag Development Authority document accessed by Kashmir Despatch, the lease on hotel Khyber expires on 04, October-2029. This poses a question mark. How can a lease that was granted for 40 years be considered live for 49 years?
Clearly, it appears when Hotel Khyber was constructed in 2012 on a previously abandoned forest land, where, according to the locals, only a lush forest and a water-filtration plant existed; the owners of the hotel were allowed to enjoy the previously nullified lease that was granted for 90 years by the then government of Jammu and Kashmir in 1939.
Because while the lease granted by the government of Jammu and Kashmir in 1981 was due to expire in 2021, the lease granted by the erstwhile monarchy gave a surplus of almost nine years to the owners of Hotel Khyber.
The said lease would have expired on 11-October 2029, but as stated earlier, it was nullified by the Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Act – 1960, by virtue of its enactment.
Clearly, as long as they were enjoying an extended possession, it didn’t matter for the owners of the Hotel Khyber as to what lease they were citing to establish possession on the said estate. None of the original lessees are the current possessors of the said estate; as was duly ascertained (when visited) by Court Commissioner Ms. Masrat Shaheen (Judicial Registrar J&K High Court) in July 2020.
On paper, the 85-room hotel Khyber belongs to Pinnacle Resorts Pvt. Ltd. which is a company owned by the prominent Tramboo family of the Kashmir Valley. The current board members and directors of the company are Rifat Trumboo, Abdul Quayoom Trumboo, Umar Khurshid Tramboo, and Khalil Quayoom Trumboo.
While the latest documents prepared by Gulmarag Development Authority in 2020, also state Mr. Mangat Sigh as the possessor, and the revenue document prepared in the same year, cite Amar Jeet Singh and Parab Jeet Singh as the possessors; it could not be independently verified whether the Pinnacle Resorts Pvt. Ltd. has duly acquired the possession rights over the said land. But the lease law requires the occupier to attain the possession rights by way of a transfer of the lease.
When Kashmir Despatch approached the office of the Gulmarag Development Authority to question the concerned officials about the supposed misappropriation and discrepancies in the lease documents of Hotel Khyber, one of the senior officials who dealt with the leases at Gulmarag, said that the owners of the hotel Khyber were allowed to enjoy the lease granted in 1939 by the erstwhile autocratic government of the Maharaja, on the basis of Ailan No: 10.
However, the Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Act 1960, categorically states that leases granted before the commencement of the Land Grants Act stand canceled, or determined in the language of the law.
And the law reads, “If any person holding land on a lease granted under this Act or under the Rules for Allotment of Building Sites in Srinagar and Gulmarag, Svt. 1962 or under the Rule for Grant of Lands in Jammu and Kashmir for Building purposes (Ailan No. 10 dated 7th Bhadoon, 1976) or under the Rules for Grant of Land at Gulmarag and Pahalgam in Kashmir for Building Purposes or under any instrument thereunder, hereafter effects, or has ever effected before the commencement of the Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants (Amendment) Act, 1969, transfer of such land or any right there in without the permission of the Government or any authority empowered in this behalf, the lease of such land shall determine (cancel) and shall be deemed always to have determined (Cancelled) with effect from the date such transfer is or has been effected.”
Clearly, the administrative nexus in hotel Khyber’s case appears to be deep and provocative. According to all government laws and by-laws, any government property if leased, should first and foremost, benefit the people. But that is hardly the case. The hotel Khyber is paying an annual rent of Rs. 10, 200 approximately which is a lot lesser than the amount charged for a single night stay in its most economical room. On one hand, it is a threat to the ecologically sensitive area, while on the other the hotel is filling the government coffers with peanuts on the pretext of benefiting the exchequer.
