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Two from outside bought property in J&K since 2019: Centre tells LS
Asked about any hardship and impediments being faced by the people of other states while buying properties in Jammu and Kashmir, union minister of state (home affairs) Nityanand Rai said that no such instance has been reported
The Centre on Tuesday told Parliament that two people from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought property in the region since August 2019, when laws that prohibited non-locals from doing so were controversially scrapped by the Union government.
The statement, made by minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in the Lok Sabha, stirred a political row in Kashmir, where many mainstream parties remain opposed to the revocation of the region’s special status and statehood.
“As per the information provided by the government of Jammu and Kashmir, two persons from outside J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) have purchased two properties in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019,” Rai said in a written reply.
Asked about any hardship and impediments being faced by the people of other states while buying properties in Jammu and Kashmir, Rai said that no such instance was reported.
The minister did not provide any details of the people or the type of properties acquired.
Attempts to get details from officials in Jammu and Kashmir did not succeed. Official spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir government and principal secretary, power and information, Rohit Kansal, did not respond to requests for a comment.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre effectively revoked Article 370, which bestowed special status to the erstwhile state, and Article 35A, which barred non-locals from buying or owning immovable property in Jammu and Kashmir, settling there permanently, or availing benefits of state-sponsored scholarship schemes.
The constitutional provision gave special rights to Jammu and Kashmir’s permanent residents. Article 370 acknowledged the special status of the (then) state of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of autonomy and its ability to formulate laws for the state’s permanent residents.
In October 2020, the Centre Issued a gazette notification omitting the phrase “permanent resident of the state” from Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act that deals with the disposal of land in the union territory.
National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party said the government’s statement in Parliament meant that the process of “snatching of rights” had begun.
“This is the beginning of coming true of the apprehensions that our land rights will get violated . These were our fears. See when the land rights of other states are being protected and we also had our land rights which were snatched away. It strengthens our apprehensions about land rights,” said Hasnain Masoodi, senior NC leader and member of parliament from south Kashmir.
Masoodi said that J&K had a land act before August 5,2019 that would prohibit acquisition of property within J&K by anyone other than a state subject. “That restriction is gone now,” he added.
Additional spokesperson of PDP, Tahir Sayed, said that the apprehension of local people were proving correct.
“It has just started. It is not only about demographic change. We have very limited resources and we can’t share our limited resources with outsiders. It will just disempower locals economically and politically,” he said.
