HC slams J&K admin over irregularities

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir high court on Thursday pulled up the Union territory’s administration for alleged irregularities in land allotments under the erstwhile Roshni Act and said it will decide on March 18 whether to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Chief justice Gita Mittal ordered that all the records related to the case be presented before the court by March 18.

“The high court shall decide on transferring the case to the CBI on Wednesday [March 18],” said advocate Ankur Sharma, who filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the case that allegedly involves irregularities in land allotments to the tune of ~25,000 crore. Sharma pointed out that the reports sought by the court in an order on February 20 from the revenue secretary, education secretary, divisional commissioner of Jammu, principal chief conservator of forests, Jammu, and deputy commissioner, Jammu, wasn’t filed. The court also directed the anti-corruption bureau of J&K to file a fresh status report on the 17 first information reports filed in the case.

Last week, the Law Commission recommended the retrieval of lands allotted under the Roshni Act, which was scrapped in November 2018 by Satya Pal Malik, then governor of Jammu and Kashmir state .

The Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, popularly known as the Roshni Act, was implemented in 2001 by the then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, which was aimed at “conferring 20.55 lakh kanals (equivalent to 25,6874.9732 acres) of state land to the occupants”.

The Act sought to generate resources for hydroelectric power projects and to confer proprietary rights to occupants of state-owned land subject to payment of the land cost fixed by the government. The Act was repealed because “it failed to realise the desired objectives and there were also reports of misuse of some its provisions”.