73 years, one police station, zero papers
A Kangan family says the J&K police took 7 kanals 18 marlas in 1953 without acquisition. The High Court called it “dead”; the Supreme Court has been hearing the challenge. A report says the Court has now ordered compensation and rentals — the signed order isn’t public yet.
The police station has stood on the land since 1953; the legal paper trail remains unresolved.
Here is what the record does show. Abdul Rashid Wani took WP(C) 182/2021 to the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court saying the police occupied his family’s land at Kangan in 1953 and built the police station there without any acquisition or payment. The administration’s own response, as recorded by the court, acknowledged police possession from 1953; it denied liability for compensation or rent.
The High Court dismissed the case on 28 June 2022 for gross delay, calling it a dead cause of action, and rejected review in 2023. Wani then moved the Supreme Court as SLP(C) 8925/2025. The top court listed it through 2025–26; a Special Lok Adalat attempt in August 2024 did not settle it.
A published report now says that on 17 August 2026 the Supreme Court directed the J&K administration to compensate Wani, pay rentals from 1953, and start acquisition proceedings treating 2021 as the valuation date, with the High Court to fix amounts. We have not yet located the Court’s signed order carrying those directions; until it’s on the record, those specifics stay a reported claim, not confirmed fact.
What is not in dispute in the court file: the police station sits on private land taken into police possession in 1953 without a formal acquisition. Seventy-three years later, the paper trail is still catching up with the building.