Article 370 abrogation aftermath: Centre reveals no. of 'outsiders' who bought land in J&K

On Tuesday, the Centre made a startling revelation regarding the land purchased in Jammu and Kashmir by persons from the rest of the country after the abrogation of Article 370. As per the information sourced from the local administration, only two 'outsiders' bought two properties in the Union Territory since August 2019. This was disclosed by MoS Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in a response to unstarred questions by Lok Sabha MPs S Ramalingam and A Ganeshamurthi. Moreover, he mentioned that the Centre did not come across any complaints of people facing problems in buying land in J&K. 

Change in J&K land laws

A Presidential notification combined with requisite legislation passed by both the House of Parliament in August 2019 led to Article 370 becoming virtually redundant. This implied that the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was scrapped. Furthermore, the region was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Thereafter, restrictions on the movement of people and communication were imposed in the state, which was gradually lifted over the months.

Through an order on October 26, 2020, the MHA amended 14 laws of the erstwhile state of J&K and repealed 12 other laws altogether. Most importantly, laws governing the ownership, sale and purchase of land such as The J&K Development Act, 1970, The J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996, The Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 and The J&K Land Grants Act, 1960 were also amended. For instance, the phrase 'permanent resident of the state' in the J&K Development Act was removed thereby permitting any person from India to purchase land in J&K.

Additionally, The Jammu and Kashmir Alienation of Land Act, 1938, and The Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950 which prohibited the transfer of land to non-permanent residents were abolished. However, the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration condemned this and accused the Centre of launching a “massive assault" on the rights of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Writing on Twitter, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti opined, "Yet another step that’s part of GOI’s nefarious designs to disempower and disenfranchise people of J&K. From the unconstitutional scrapping of Article 370 to facilitating loot of our natural resources and finally putting land in J&K up for sale".