High Court tells DC (R&R) to issue eligibility certificate to Pong dam oustee in 48 hrs

Nurpur, March 8

After fighting a seven-year-long legal battle for getting Pong Dam Oustee eligibility certificate, Ravi Kant, a resident of Dann village in Jawali subdivision of Kangra district, got justice when the High Court ordered that the Deputy Commissioner (Relief and Rehabilitation), Raja Ka Talab, issue the certificate to Kant within 48 hours.

Must appear in person

• The court slammed the official for floating the court order and ordered to issue the eligibility certificate to the petitioner forthwith failing which he must appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing, March 22, to show the reason why he should not be prosecuted and punished for deliberately and wilfully aggravating the contempt already committed by him

The court took serious cognisance against the DC (R&R) for not complying with the previous order issued on May 3, 2019, by the division bench of the court for issuing the certificate in favour of the petitioner Ravi Kant’s father Ram Avtar, who had filed Civil Writ Petition (CWP) number 817 in 2017.

As per information, after Avatar’s demise in May 2019, his son Ravi Kant had filed a contempt petition in the HP High Court with personal capacity against Bal Krishan Choudhary — the then DC (R&R) — for not complying with court’s order in 2022.

The court slammed the official for floating the court order and ordered to issue the eligibility certificate to the petitioner forthwith failing which he must appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing — March 22 — to show the reason why he should not be prosecuted and punished for deliberately and wilfully aggravating the contempt already committed by him.

Petitioner Ravi Kant told The Tribune that following the non-issue of the eligibility certificate by the DC (R&R) earlier to his Pong Dam oustee father, and after his death, he, being legal heir, could not submit his file to claim the allotment of land in Rajasthan as the certificate was mandatory for allotment of the land to oustees.

“After running from pillar to post, finally the honourable High Court rendered justice to me, for which my father struggled for five years before his death. This court order is a lesson to those government officials who commit mental harassment of people,” he said.

Sanjay Dhiman — who joined as DC (R&R), Raja ka Talab, in August 2022, after the retirement of his predecessor Bal Krishan Choudhary in May 2022 — said after going through the order of the High Court, necessary compliance had been ensured by issuing the Pong Dam Oustee certificate to petitioner Ravi Kant within stipulated time.

“The land allotment file, along with original certificate, has also been submitted to Additional Colonization Commissioner, Bikaner (Rajasthan), for the allotment of land to Ravi Kant, the legal heir of Ram Avatar,” he said.