Srinagar, Oct. 17 -- The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has ruled that the Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, cannot be invoked mechanically to declare occupants of land unauthorised when their possession began before the alleged owners acquired migrant status.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Parihar observed that where possession commenced before November 1, 1989, the date associated with the statutory definition of a "migrant", the subsequent migration of those claiming ownership could not, by itself, establish that the occupants had encroached upon migrant property.

The court clarified that the legality of such possession must be independentl...