Roshni land scam: CAG report was trigger behind petition, says HC lawyer

Following J&K administration’s directions to retrieve over 22 lakh kanals of state land from the illegal occupation of beneficiaries and encroachers within six months,

Following J&K administration’s directions to retrieve over 22 lakh kanals of state land from the illegal occupation of beneficiaries and encroachers within six months, prominent high court lawyer and petitioner in the Roshni land scam Ankur Sharma said a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report of 2014 triggered him to move the court.

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The CAG had found irregularities in the implementation of Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, also known as the Roshni Act, which came into effect on March 1, 2002 and was later amended in 2004 and 2007.

“The government had estimated (November 2006) that total state land was 1,25,03,973 kanals, of which 20,64,972 kanals with estimated value Rs 25,448 crore was under encroachment,” the report had said.

The CAG, however, observed that only Rs 76.24 crore (24%) was reportedly realised against a demand of Rs 317.54 crore raised by the end of March 2013 against the actual transfer of 3,48,160 kanals of land.

“The CAG in its 2014 report had mentioned names of beneficiaries that included headquarters of political parties, politicians and former bureaucrats. According to an estimate, there are around 30,000 beneficiaries,” said Sharma.

The progress in the case is being monitored by the high court, he said.

“On the basis of CAG report, I moved a petition in the high court against the open loot of the state land under the garb of Roshni Act. I also challenged the constitutional validity of the flawed Act in a separate PIL,” he informed.

Sharma said that the high court has asked the J&K administration not to only retrieve land allotted under the Act but also other state land under illegal occupation in Bhatindi, Sidhra and Tawi riverbed in Jammu district.

“Roshni Act was used to change Jammu’s demography. Unabated capture of forest and river lands by Muslims, settlements of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis exclusively in Jammu, clandestinely issuing SROs, handing over state lands to Auqaf was all part of a deep conspiracy,” he alleged.

However, principal revenue secretary Pawan Kotwal has claimed that the total land allotted under the Roshni Act was only 3.44 lakh kanal.

On October 10, the J&K high court had ordered CBI probe into the Rs 25,000-cr Roshni land scam and directed the investigating agency to file status reports every eight weeks.

More than 90% land cannot be sold to outsiders: UT admn

The UT administration on Monday said that it has repealed 11 land laws that existed in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and replaced the “old, regressive, intrinsically contradictory and outdated” legislations with a set of modern, progressive and people friendly provisions.

“The new land laws will not only afford protection to over 90% of the land in J&K from being alienated to outsiders but will also help revamp the agriculture sector, speed up industrialisation, aid economic growth and create jobs in J&K,” said principal secretary and UT spokesperson Rohit Kansal, while allaying apprehensions among the people related to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Fifth Order, 2020.

The repealed laws were made to serve the old agrarian-based economy and were required to be modified for modern economic needs, said Kansal.