PDP President Mehbooba Mufti has sent a legal notice to the former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik for making alleged defamatory comments against her in a press conference.
The notice said, “…Under instructions from Ms Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister State of J&K(Now UT), I serve upon you the following Legal notice, contents whereof you may note down for further legal recourse to be pursued”
The notice was issued by Mufti’s lawyer, saying, “My client has earned a reputation of being impeccably honest politician by dint of her sacrifices and hard work in her political career spanning over 02 decades. She remained Parliamentarian and Member of J&K Assembly and has remained the Chief Minister of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir.”
The notice further said, “My client commands huge respect amongst masses i.e. amongst cross-sections of the Society and spectrum of religious-minded people and down-trodden along with citizens of the State of J&K(now UT) as also the entire country.”
It has been mentioned in the notice that a video had been circulated in the Media where Satya Pal Malik at 0.23 seconds of the said video clip made allegations that Mehbooba Mufti took benefit of the State Land under The J&K State Lands Act 2001, popularly known as the Roshni Act.
The notice added, “By conducting yourself as an Ex-Governor of J&K State and making utterances about the benefit being taken by my client under Roshni Act, which is not only false and incorrect, you have defamed my client and have levelled scandalous and serious allegations against her..”
It also said, “Although no amount of money can compensate my client for the loss of reputation and good name which loss has been caused by your aforesaid conduct, yet my client has decided to sue for claiming compensation/ damages for loss of reputation and good name earned by her and for establishing that the allegations levelled you are incorrect and false and have been levelled at a juncture which hints at a political collusion behind the speech made by you”
The Legal Notice served by Mehbooba Mufti to the Satypal Malik sought compensation of 10 crores to be paid within 30 days of the receipt of the notice. This legal notice has been issued to the former J&K Governor according to the Section 80 CPC and mentioned further legal consequences in case of non-compliance with the demands made.
The notice also mentioned that the money will not be used by Mufti for personal benefit but will be utilised for public good.
Roshni Act was declared illegal by Court
It is notable here that the Roshni Act was brought in by erstwhile governments in Jammu and Kashmir to give land ownership rights to encroachers in exchange for payment. The money was announced to be used for setting up hydropower plants in the state. However, rampant corruption and illegalities were allowed to go on under subsequent governments. The High Court of J and K had called the Act illegal.
The Roshni Act which was declared ‘null and void’ in October 2020 is pegged to be the biggest scam in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. Under the act, disproportionate concessions were extended for regularisation of land conversion at a substantially lower charge than the stipulated rates and the cut-off year kept getting shifted.
In a detailed list prepared by the Jammu and Kashmir administration under orders from the High Court, many big politicians and influential people of the erstwhile state were named as illegal beneficiaries of the corrupted Act.
As per the Comptroller and General, an Act that was supposed to generate about Rs 25,000 crore for the state government, ended up raising only Rs 76 crore from the transfer of encroached land from 2007 to 2013.
