Mutation Proceedings Must Be Attested On The Spot: HC

Mutation proceedings under the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act must be conducted strictly in accordance with the prescribed procedure.

- M Ahmad

“...mutation proceedings under the Agrarian Reforms Act are required to be conducted strictly in accordance with the procedure prescribed under Standing Order 23-A read with Rule 14 of the Agrarian Reforms Rules,” a bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal while upholding an order of the J&K Special Tribunal directing a fresh inquiry into a decades-old agrarian land dispute in Kathua.

Dismissing a writ petition filed by Bansi Lal and others, the court said ruled that the tribunal’s decision to remand the matter to the Tehsildar, Kathua for a de novo inquiry did not suffer from any illegality or jurisdictional error warranting interference under Article 226 of the Constitution.

“In the present case, the record reveals that the mutations in question were attested at the headquarters instead of being attested on the spot in the village where the land is situated. Such a course adopted by the mutating authority is clearly contrary to the procedure mandated under Rule 14 read with Standing Order 23-A and renders the mutation proceedings vulnerable in law, particularly when the legality of such