SRINAGAR, Sep 28: As many as 631 non-residents have purchased 386 kanals and 128 square feet of land in Jammu and Kashmir since 2019, with the transactions involving a total consideration of ₹129.97 crore, according to data placed before the J&K Legislative Assembly.
The figures, provided by the Revenue Department, show that 378 non-residents purchased 212 kanals, 13 marlas and 128 square feet in the Jammu region, while 253 buyers acquired 173 kanals and seven marlas in Kashmir.
The data covers land transactions recorded after the changes made to the legal framework governing land ownership in J&K in 2019.
The number of buyers increased substantially after 2020. One non-resident purchased one kanal in 2020 for ₹10.06 lakh, followed by 57 buyers in 2021, 127 in 2022, 119 in 2023, 169 in 2024 and 158 in 2025.
In 2025 alone, non-residents purchased 106 kanals, 11 marlas and 201 square feet of land for a reported consideration of ₹37.17 crore.
Around 350 of the 631 buyers were reported to be residents of Ladakh, while others came from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Jharkhand and Bihar. Eleven buyers from Delhi were reported to have purchased land in Kashmir, while one buyer from West Bengal appeared in the available lists.
Most transactions involved relatively small parcels, although some larger purchases were also reported in Srinagar.
Delhi-based Luxury Resorts Pvt Ltd, for instance, was reported to have purchased three parcels measuring 22 kanals, three kanals and six kanals at Chatterhama, taking its combined holdings there to 31 kanals. Another buyer, identified as H.G. Chawla, was reported to have purchased 15 kanals at Harwan.
The issue has also entered the political debate, with Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari alleging that a Mumbai-based businessman identified by him as Chawla had been allowed to purchase land at Syedpora for a hotel project. Bukhari also alleged that a Delhi-based company had acquired 150 kanals at Chatterhama in the Hazratbal area.
A separate transaction involving government-owned land at Sangarmal in Srinagar, however, is distinct from the private purchases reflected in the Assembly data.
Around 45 kanals of Srinagar Development Authority land surrounding Sangarmal City Centre were offered through an online forward-bidding process, with the successful bid reaching ₹421.75 crore.
Parmesh Construction Company Ltd emerged as the successful bidder as part of a consortium that included J&K-based Pahalgam Green Hotels and Bhutani Infra Ltd.
Unlike the private purchases listed by the Revenue Department, the Sangarmal property was not sold outright. It was offered on a full-lease basis for development.
The J&K Land Grants Rules, 2022 define a lease as an arrangement under which the lessor conveys the use and occupation of land for a specified purpose and period in return for consideration. The rules also provide for companies and other business entities to be lessees.
The Sangarmal bidding attracted three reported bidders, with Parmesh Construction emerging ahead of Construction Engineers, while Garuda Construction and Engineering Ltd also participated.
The property occupies a prominent location near the Kashmir Golf Course, Polo View and Lal Chowk and forms part of a commercial complex that has remained substantially underutilised for years.
The Sangarmal complex includes shops, Craft Bazaar spaces, kiosks, food courts, a restaurant and office spaces. The latest lease arrangement is aimed at redevelopment of the surrounding property and revival of the stalled commercial project.
Taken together, the records point to two separate forms of outside participation in J&K’s land and property market—private land purchases recorded by the Revenue Department and government-owned land being offered to a consortium through a commercial lease.
The available data, however, does not provide a complete name-wise list of all 631 non-resident purchasers or establish that all such purchases were made for commercial purposes.
