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It has been nearly three years since the Supreme Court ruled in Samdrupjongkhar’s Zangdopelri case, but the judgment is still pending implementation.
The long delay in enforcing the judgment has left the fate of Zangdopelri in limbo, with the structure neglected and the local government unable to renovate and develop it into a tourist attraction.
Such is the fate of Zangdopelri Lhakhang and two double-storey buildings located on state-owned land in the centre of Sundru Dzongkar town.
On September 20, 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s judgment, ordering Samdrupjongkhar Thromde to pay compensation of Nu 27,987,000 to Thinley Dorji, the caretaker of Zangdopelri. The Supreme Court ordered both parties to implement the judgment within three months, requiring the caretaker to hand over the property to the Thromde government, while the government must compensate the caretaker.
The thromde government then asked the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to release compensation to take over the buildings and state land. “We are still waiting for the compensation amount to enforce the judgment,” said Thrampon Thinley Namgay, adding that the condition of Zangdopelri was deteriorating. “It is time to renovate it and transform it into a tourist attraction. But there is nothing we can do because we cannot take over ownership due to lack of funds,” he added.
The Ministry of Finance official said the compensation issue had been reported to the previous government and was awaiting a response from the current government, which was expected to be released by the Cabinet Secretariat. However, officials from the Cabinet Secretariat have not yet commented.
The Ministry of Finance official explained that the compensation criteria needed to be revised because the criteria reflected in the judgment were based on estimates submitted by Tingli Dorjee. “The criteria need to be calculated based on the valuation of land and property as provided for in the Land Act 2007,” the official said, adding that the Ministry of Finance has a Property Assessment and Valuation Agency (PAVA) under it that is responsible for assessing and determining the value of land and other mortgaged properties that may be expropriated.
How did the dispute arise?
The dispute started when the National Land Commission (NLC) directed Thinley Dorji to hand over the Zangdopelri land to the thromde, claiming that the land did not belong to him.
In 2015, Thinley Dorji, the main coordinator and property manager during the construction of Zangdopelri, filed a lawsuit against thromde after receiving a notice from the NLC asking him to hand over the land.
The landowner had given Thinley Dorji a notice to hand over the land within a month of the NLC order. The notice stemmed from a survey report submitted by the landowner to the commission, which claimed that the land belonged to the state.
On June 19, 2018, the court ordered the county to pay Tinley Dorje Nu $27,987,842 in compensation within two months and ordered Tinley Dorje to hand over state-owned land and property to the county. The compensation amount was based on the expenses Tinley Dorje incurred during the construction of Zangdopelri, two buildings, walls, a butter lamp house, and land taxes.
Aggrieved by the lower court’s verdict, the farmers approached the High Court (HC) stating that the land clearly belonged to the state and the title had been given to the farmers, hence there was no reason to compensate Thinley Dorji. However, the High Court upheld the lower court’s verdict, prompting both parties to approach the Supreme Court.
Thinley Dorji appealed to the Supreme Court as he was not satisfied with the apex court’s verdict which asked him to hand over the properties to the court as he would be looking after the plot for a long time.
In previous interviews, Trend officials said Trend never wanted the land and never intended to own it. They stressed that the Trend government, as a local authority, was only following legal procedures to verify the legal owner of the land.
Tromde officials argue that Zangdopelri was built for the public in the 1980s on the orders of a special cultural committee and the then interior minister, and not for the benefit of any private individual or entity.
The order states that Zangdopelri should be handed over to the government once completed and that Thinley Dorji would oversee its construction, but makes no mention of transferring ownership of the land to him.
Contributors
Lingjin Wangchuk
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