Right to access water, land must be protected together: Jammu and Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ruled that the rights to access water and property rights must be protected together, rather than seen as competing interests. The court emphasized that while the government can use private land to provide essential public services like water through pipelines, it cannot force landowners to bear the burden of such infrastructure without proper compensation.

In a case involving two women who claimed ownership of land in Pattan tehsil, they argued that water pipelines had been laid across their property, affecting their use of the land. They sought removal of the infrastructure, compensation for its use, or acquisition of their property. The court observed that the right to access water and the right to property are not separate or conflicting rights.

The state is obligated to ensure access to water, which is crucial for life and human dignity. The right to provide water and the right to property must be balanced in a way that advances the public purpose while ensuring that landowners are not deprived of their property rights without proper legal authority and just compensation.

The court noted that the petitioners had acquired the land in 2012, and the pipelines had been in use since then. Even though the pipelines were laid decades before the purchase, the court held that their continued use meant the landowners' claim for compensation could not be dismissed solely based on the age of the infrastructure.

The court directed the Public Health Engineering Department to establish a committee within two weeks of the judgment to assess the extent of land affected by the pipelines, determine any damage caused, and evaluate the compensation claim. This assessment must consider the date of purchase (2012) and be completed within six weeks.