A Bench of Justice Sindhu Sharma of High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the Order passed by Jammu Development Authority whereby the allotment of land of petitioner was cancelled at his back and without affording him an opportunity of hearing.

A Challenge was thrown to the said order by the petitioner on the ground that the said order is arbitrary, unjustified and unfair in as much as the petitioner was not given an opportunity of hearing either by Board of Directors or by the Vice-Chairman JDA before cancellation of his allotment. It was submitted that the allotment in favour of the petitioner has raised a legitimate expectation and the same cannot be defeated by cancelling the same without providing him any opportunity of being heard. It was also argued by the petitioner that the cancellation of allotment Order has been passed without following the due process of law.

The same was contested by the respondents on the ground that the allotment of the land was made in favour of the petitioner without adopting the guidelines fixed for such allotment and also without approval of the competent authority. It was pleaded that as the allotment was without any following due process and as such it decided to cancel all these allotments and accordingly, the irregular allotment made in favour of the petitioner was cancelled.

The Court while relying upon the decision of a Division Bench of the High Court in “Jagdish Raj Vs. Jammu Development Authority and others” reiterated that Whenever a plea of breach of natural justice is made against the State, the said plea, if found sustainable, sounds in constitutional law as arbitrary State action, which attracts the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.