29-Mar-2024  Srinagar booked.net

GovernanceKashmir

LG Govt Orders To Vacate ‘State Land’ Across J&K

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Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration led by LG Manoj Sinha on Wednesday issued separate notices across the region, asking the people to vacate the ‘state land’ classified as Kahcharie (grazing land) by January 31, 2023, and those allotted under the scrapped Roshni scheme on their own, failing which strict action will be initiated against the ‘illegal encroachers’. 

The order was first passed by Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Commissioner Secretary Revenue to all deputy commissioners even as several review petitions challenging the Roshni Act judgment lie pending before the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Moreover, affected parties have also moved applications in the Supreme Court seeking directions to restrain the authorities from carrying out such evictions. These cases have not been heard yet although the Supreme court has decided to list them for hearing.

However, the notices warned Kashmir residents, who have allegedly encroached upon ‘state land’, to remove encroachments on their own within two days.

“If any person fails to remove the encroachment, the department would swing into action and people have to pay the charges of the same,” the notices issued by Executive Magistrate 1st Class in north Kashmir’s Baramulla and Boniyar areas, read.

Similar notices have been issued in other areas across J&K, reports said.

However, the move has been opposed by the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, who want the government to reconsider its decision for the sake of the poor people.

National Conference (NC) Vice President, Omar Abdullah said that retrieving the land from people, which has been provided to them under the Roshni scheme, amounts to betrayal.

The order issued by the government has also sparked protests in different parts of the UT, especially in Jammu where people have also been served notices by revenue authorities, asking them to vacate the state land or face demolition.

However, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, Department of Revenue, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri wasn’t available for comments despite calling repeatedly.

The Commissioner Secretary of Revenue has also instructed the Deputy Commissioners to develop a daily anti-encroachment drive strategy and designate Additional Deputy Commissioners as District Nodal Officers for coordination and efficient drive implementation.

Roshni Scheme was promulgated during the National Conference government led by Farooq Abdullah in 2001. The law granted ownership of Jammu and Kashmir state lands to ‘unauthorized’ occupants of those lands to raise money for power projects upon payment of a sum to be determined by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

The cut-off year was set in 1990 by the Government of Farooq Abdullah, which was extended to 2004 and again in 2007 by the PDP-Congress Government. The act got the unofficial name of the Roshni Act from the J&K Government's erstwhile legislature.

(Inputs, KNO)