The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has directed the maintenance of status quo at a site in Udhampur district where a shop structure was allegedly demolished illegally by the district administration.

Justice Rahul Bharti, while issuing notice on petitioner Farooq Ahmad Wani’s plea seeking Rs 5 crore in compensation, ordered that no construction or reconstruction take place at the site.
Wani challenged the demolition of the shop, claiming it was erected in 2018 under an agreement with a person who purported to be the allottee of six marlas of state land at village Narsoo. He alleged that the district administration razed the structure without following due legal process, causing substantial financial loss.
The court issued notice to the state and listed the matter for further hearing on January 31, 2026, while directing that the demolished site remain untouched in the meantime. “Status quo to be maintained at the site and there shall be no act of construction or reconstruction…subject to objections from the other side,” the order stated.
The judgment aligns with precedents such as a recent Allahabad High Court ruling, which deemed demolition of a private structure without notice or hearing as illegal and arbitrary, restoring the property to the petitioner and imposing Rs 20 lakh costs on the State.