SRINAGAR / NEW DELHI: Anyone from outside Jammu and Kashmir You can now buy land in the Union Territory, which until now was exclusively intended for permanent residents and residents with a certificate of domicile with home ministry making various changes in the laws of the land.
Although the new laws were in sight, they reflect the changed political and administrative landscape after Article 370. became a dead letter at J&K. A senior minister said the process was intended to make the laws applicable to the rest of India to become legal tender in the UT as well. He said the protections offered by certain states in terms of restrictions on the sale of land could be considered by the administration, which in the current scenario is the Lieutenant Governor, at a later date.
New MHA rule overrides 11 land laws of former J&K state
The new MHA rule, called UT Jammu and Kashmir’s Third Order of Reorganization (Adaptation of Central Laws), 2020, overrides 11 previous land laws of the former J&K state. The phrase – ‘permanent resident of the state’ – in Jammu and Kashmir Development Law dealing with land disposal in UT has been omitted from Section 17 of the law, allowing non-residents to purchase land in UT.
J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha told reporters that the amendments do not allow the transfer of agricultural land to non-farmers. However, some exemptions from the Act allow the transfer of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The opposition, including regional and national parties, expressed reservations against the new law, calling it “land theft in the name of integration, development and security.”
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