Journalist's Home Razed: Fresh Debate On State Land Ownership in J&K

With his house in Jammu demolished by the authorities for allegedly being built on state land, journalist Arfaz Ahmad Daing now has nowhere to go. Videos circulating on social media show him breaking down beside the rubble, while people pledge support to the young reporter and his family.

The demolition has renewed calls for granting ownership rights to people occupying government land. It has also sparked a political row: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has blamed the LG administration for the demolition, while the BJP denies involvement. The PDP has used the incident to target Omar for rejecting a bill moved by its MLA, Waheed Parra, in the October Assembly session, seeking ownership rights for long-term occupants of government land. The government maintains that such occupants are encroachers, noting that nearly 3 lakh kanals of state land have been illegally occupied in Jammu and Kashmir.

Arfaz insists he was targeted because of his work as a journalist. He says his family has long struggled to make ends meet, with his father doing odd jobs, including menial labour. A Hindu man, Kuldeep Sharma, has offered the family land, and others have pledged assistance. “I was targeted, and our house was demolished even though we bought the land,” he says. He adds that the family owns no other property. “If the government promises 5 marlas of land to landless families, why were we singled out?”

Social activist R.K. Kalsotra argues that action should be taken against influential people who have occupied large areas of state land, not the poor. “The authorities have selectively targeted Daing, while no action has been taken against those who have illegally occupied vast tracts of government land,” he says.

Alongside the journalist’s home, several other structures, including commercial buildings, have been demolished in recent months, reviving memories of the February 2023 anti-encroachment drive launched by the Lieutenant Governor’s administration. That drive was eventually halted following widespread political backlash.

A senior government official in the Revenue Department says that earlier in 2023, the authorities retrieved both the Khalsa Sarkar (state land) and the Kahcharai (common land) land in Jammu and Kashmir. “There are already Supreme Court directions that the Kahcharai land should be retrieved from the people who have occupied it. The government, as a matter of policy, has also decided to auction the property whose lease has expired,” says the official.

Earlier during his tenure as the chief minister from 2005-08, former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad brought a scheme to grant ownership rights on the land which was occupied by people under the Jammu & Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001. The law was also known as the Roshni Act, as the scheme envisaged that the money that would be raised after people had made payment in accordance with the market value of the land would be used for the generation of electricity.  

However, following the orders of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to order a CBI investigation into what was seen as a land scam, as people got the ownership rights at significantly lesser rates than the market value, in November 2020 the LG administration ordered that the law ceased to operate and the mutations done under it were cancelled. However, in the October assembly session, when PDP’s Parra through a bill sought  ownership rights on the state land, CM Omar rejected the proposed legislation, noting that the government can’t give the proprietary rights to people who have raised houses on the government land illegally.

“There is already a scheme of the government that those people who don’t possess the land are allotted five marlas of land. But it is not possible for the government that those who have illegally occupied the state land and made houses that they be given ownership rights. This can’t be done,” CM said.

PDP spokesperson Mohit Bhan says that the party was in favour of granting ownership rights to people who have been using the government land for a long time. “Outside Jammu and Kashmir, people have been given due rights, and the colonies have been regularised. We are seeking that the government should also provide ownership rights to the people on the land which has been in their possession for a long time,” he says.

Bhan, however, expressed disappointment that PDP’s bill that sought such rights was rejected in the Legislative Assembly by CM Omar.

“We have never done a politics of taking the credit for the work that we do. If the government brings a law to grant ownership rights, we would support it. Our concern is that poor people shouldn’t suffer.”

Besides striking down the Roshni law, in December 2022, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha brought  the  J&K Land Grant Rules 2022, under which the properties on the expired leased land could be auctioned.

According to the businessmen associated with the hotel industry, the leases of the majority of the hotels in the famous tourist resort of Gulmarg in North Kashmir have expired, and they are facing difficulties even going for minor repairs. Subsequent to the  new land rules, in August this year, authorities earlier sealed the iconic Nedous Hotel in Gulmarg and the property was taken over by the Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA).

Treasurer of the Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHARA), Ghulam Jeelani, says that they are seeking that the leases of the hotels should either be renewed or the owners should get the ownership rights on the land on which the properties have been raised. “Most of the leases have expired, and the hoteliers are facing issues even to repair them”, he says.