New Land Laws for Jammu & Kashmir

Context: The Union Home Ministry has notified new land laws for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir that came in force with immediate effect.

Background: In August 2019, the Central government revoked the special status granted to the J&K under Article 370 and 35 A, section 96 of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 empowers the Union Home Ministry to adapt and modify any law by way of repeal or amendment before the expiration of one year from the appointed day of the Union Territory of J&K, which is October 31, 2019.

To follow this, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced several amendments to land laws for the Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir (J&K), including the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act of 1970, which till now entitled only permanent residents to purchase or sell property in the former State, and the J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996.

The MHA notification stated that, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order, 2020 shall come into force with immediate effect and will encourage development in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Changes of Land Laws In Jammu and Kashmir

Ministry of Home Affairs in its order of October 26, introduced amendments to 14 laws of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and repealed 12 others.

Major amendments were made to four major state laws that governed ownership, sale, and purchase of land in the erstwhile state. These are The J&K Development Act, 1970, The J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996, The Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 and The J&K Land Grants Act, 1960.

The most important change that has been made to The J&K Development Act, is, removed the phrase “permanent resident of the State” without specifying any substitute such as domicile, or any other clause to regulate land ownership thereby allowing the purchase of land by any individual.

Another major move is, while defining the strategic areas in J&K, Section 3 of the Act states that the government may on the written request of an Army officer not below the rank of Corps Commander, declare an area as Strategic Area within a local area, only for direct operational and training requirements of armed forces.

The mention of “permanent resident of the state” has also been removed from Section 17 of this Act, pertaining to disposal of land by the authority.

Two of the laws that have been repealed are the Jammu and Kashmir Alienation of Land Act, 1938, and The Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950, that provided protections on land holdings for permanent residents or permanent resident certificate holders, as defined by laws of the erstwhile state of J&K.

New changes also removed section 4 of The J&K Alienation of Land Act that stated, transfer of land in favour of any person who is not a State Subject, is prohibited. Term State subjects were permanent resident certificate holders, which was defined in the now abrogated Article 35A of the Constitution. Likewise, Section 20A of the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, also revoked that specifically prohibited transfer of land to non-state subjects.

J&K Industrial Development Corporation

New changes also introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Development Corporation for establishing commercial centres and industries in the UT. The Corporation shall consist of twelve directors, four of whom could be nominated from the private sector with experience in “industry or trade or finance”.

The Corporation will have the power to acquire movable and immovable property, and to lease, sell, exchange or transfer any property held by it. If the Corporation is unable to acquire land by an agreement, the government could order proceedings under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and acquire the land for public purpose.

The amendment added that, no court can take cognisance relating to property vested in the Corporation, except when the Corporation files a complaint. No legal suit can be filed against officials of the Corporation without a prior notice of two months and not later than six months from the date of complaint.

Sale of Agricultural Land

Despite repeated assurances from Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha as well as the top bureaucracy of the Union Territory that agricultural land owned by local people will be protected, sections of the October 26 order have raised concerns.

Section 133-A of The J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996, states that, no land used for agriculture purposes shall be used for any non-agricultural purposes except with the permission of the District Collector.

Further, sub-section 2 of Section 113-A adds that an owner or occupant who wishes to put his agricultural land to non-agricultural uses as provided in the regional plan, development plan or master plan as the case may be, “shall do so it after payment of conversion charges as prescribed by the Board from time to time”.

Therefore, either with permission from a district collector or through payment of conversion fee, agricultural land can be re-purposed for non-agricultural use.

The J&K government stated that the safeguard on agricultural land alone would ensure that more than 90 per cent of land in the UT which is an agricultural land remains protected and with the people of J&K.

Amendments for Government Land Holdings

The Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Act, 1960, which regulates grant of government land on lease and earlier applied to urban areas of Jammu, Srinagar and towns, will now be extended to the entire UT.

The amendment removed the permanent resident clause to get government land on lease for “residential purposes”. The J&K Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976, which provided for transfer of land from big land owners to tillers, has been amended. The erstwhile agrarian reforms Act stated that only up to two kanals (0.25 acre) of land could be held per family for residential purposes.

New Laws for Ladakh

The laws for Ladakh have not yet been notified as local leaders have demanded inclusion in the Sixth Schedule (tribal) of the Constitution to protect their land from outsiders.

Government’s Stand on New Land Laws

The J&K administration led by Lieutenant Governor has stated that the old laws were a product of an old order and were made to serve the old agrarian based economy. The UT administration has termed the laws regressive, with lot of scope for discretionary interpretation and corruption.

It has said that the 12 laws that have been repealed were either redundant or obsolete, and that the definition of agriculture itself has been vastly expanded to include horticulture and allied agriculture activities.

The administration has also said that the move is aimed at providing the people of J&K a “modernised” land management system that is people-friendly, and brings greater transparency in land management.

Conclusion

After the constitutional changes brought about on August 5, 2019, removed the special status granted to the J&K through Article 370 and 35A, the Centre, this is for the first time since the accession of the former princely state to India, the population of Jammu and Kashmir was set to include new members. Former Permanent Residence Card (PRC) holders were also required to secure domicile certificates for jobs, therefore, as per last estimates provided by the J&K administration in September 2019, over 18.5 lakh certificates had been issued. Of these, the administration said, just about 1.64 per cent certificates were issued to non state subjects.

However, as per the government’s own estimates, approximately 3.6 lakh West Pakistan refugees, roughly 4,000 Valmikis settled in Jammu, and about 24,000 workers in the organised and unorganised sector with greater concentration in Jammu, Samba, and Kathua, were eligible to be issued domicile certificates. There are, however, no clear estimates of government employees who are included in the domicile roster of the UT.

There are growing positive aspiration that land in J&K was being “put up for sale”, setting the stage for across the country to invest into the UT, making the region more prosperous and industrialized.

Connecting the Article

Question for Prelims : In relation to the changed land laws of the Jammu & Kashmir UT, consider the following statements:

1. Permission of Lieutenant Governor is necessary to change the land use status from agriculture purpose to non-agriculture purpose.
2. Phrase of permanent resident of the State has removed from the J&K Development Act.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question for Mains : The penetration of Government in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir for promoting participation in development programmes is facing several challenges. List out the challenges and suggest measure.