Nearly three years have passed since the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling on Samdrupjongkhar’s Zangdopelri case, yet the judgment remains unenforced.
The prolonged delay in enforcing the judgment has left the fate of Zangdopelri in limbo, with its structures suffering neglect and the thromde unable to carry out renovations and developments to promote the site as a tourist attraction.
This is the fate of Zangdopelri Lhakhang and two double-storey buildings situated on state land in the heart of Samdrupjongkhar town.
On September 20, 2021, the SC upheld the High Court’s judgment, ordering the Samdrupjongkhar Thromde to compensate Thinley Dorji, the caretaker of the Zangdopelri, Nu 27.987 million. The SC ordered both parties to enforce the judgment within three months, requiring the caretaker to surrender the properties to the thromde administration, which, in turn, must compensate the caretaker.
The thromde administration subsequently requested the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to release the compensation funds to take over the structures and state land. “We are still waiting for the compensatory amount to enforce the judgment,” Thrompon Thinley Namgay said, adding that the condition of the Zangdopelri is worsening in the meantime. “It is high time to renovate and transform it into a tourist spot. But we are helpless as we cannot take over ownership due to lack of funds,” he added.
An MoF official said that the compensation issue had been submitted to the previous government for directive andwas awaiting the current government’s response, expected to be issued by the cabinet secretariat. However, the official concerned from the cabinet secretariat was unavailable for comment.
The MoF official explained that the compensation rate needed revision because the rates reflected in the judgment were based on estimates submitted by Thinley Dorji. “The rate needs to be worked out as per the valuation of land and property specified in the Land Act 2007,” the official said, adding that there is a Property Assessment and Valuation Agency (PAVA) under the MoF to evaluate and fix the value of land and other collateral properties that may be acquired.
How did the dispute surface?
The dispute began when the National Land Commission (NLC) directed Thinley Dorji to surrender the Zangdopelri land to the thromde, asserting that the land did not belong to him.
Upon receiving a notification from the NLC instructing him to surrender the land in 2015, Thinley Dorji, who was the main coordinator during the Zangdopelri’s construction and caretaker of the properties, filed a case against the thromde.
The thromde notified Thinley Dorji to surrender the land within a month following the NLC’s order. This notification stemmed from the thromde’s investigation report submitted to the commission, which claimed that the land belonged to the state.
On June 19, 2018, the court ordered the thromde to compensate Thinley Dorji Nu 27,987,842 within two months, and Thinley Dorji was ordered to surrender the state land and properties to the thromde. The compensation amount was based on Thinley Dorji’s claims for expenses incurred during the construction of the Zangdopelri, two buildings, walls, a butter lamp house, and land tax.
Dissatisfied with the lower court’s ruling, the thromde appealed to the High Court (HC), arguing that there was no reason to compensate Thinley Dorji when it was clear that the land belonged to the state and that ownership had been granted to the thromde. However, the HC upheld the lower court’s judgment, prompting both parties to appeal to the SC.
Thinley Dorji appealed to the SC because he was not satisfied with the judgment that required him to hand over the properties to the thromde, given his long-term care of the site.
In an earlier interview, thromde officials said that the thromde never desired the land or intended to own it. They emphasised that the thromde administration, as a local authority, was merely following legal procedures to verify the rightful owner of the land.
Thromde officials argued that the Zangdopelri was constructed in the 1980s under the special culture committee and the then home minister’s order for the public, not for the benefit of any private individual or entity.
The order indicated that the Zangdopelri should be handed over to the government after the construction, with Thinley Dorji supervising the construction without any mention of transferring land ownership to him.
