Repealing Roshni Scheme

12/12/2018

In order to ensure that no more benefits are extended to the occupants of the State land, the State Administrative Council, which met under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik few days back, repealed controversial Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 commonly known as Roshni Scheme. Due to this, around 77,000 applications pending with the Deputy Commissioners across the State have become infructuous and the Government can take back huge chunk of occupied land from the applicants as and when need arises. The State Administrative Council (SAC) took this important decision after careful consideration of all pros and cons of the Roshni Scheme. The Governor and his four Advisors B BVyas, K Vijay Kumar, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai and K K Sharma were of the unanimous view that the much-hyped scheme has not served the desired purpose and is no longer relevant in the present context. While repealing the scheme, the SAC has provided sufficient safeguards for the actions taken earlier by the concerned authorities under the provisions of the scheme. All pending proceedings under the Act shall stand cancelled immediately and abate. However, any action taken under the provisions of the repealed Act earlier shall not be invalid.
The Revenue Department, around 77,000 applications are pending with the Deputy Commissioners across the State during the past several years seeking benefit of Roshni Scheme and with the decision of the SAC all have become infructuous. Now, the Government can take back occupied land from the applicants as and when need arises and the occupants can put to use the occupied land for agriculture and allied activities only but cannot raise construction of any nature, which if noticed would be dismantled by the Government.
It is pertinent to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act was enacted in the year 2001 with the objectives of generating resources for financing power projects and conferment of proprietary rights to the occupants of the State land. The Act was believed to be a revolutionary step in the annals of history in Jammu and Kashmir after the Agrarian Reforms Act. It was hoped that the legislation would help to boost the farming sector and in turn generate substantial revenue for funding power projects across the State. The scheme initially envisaged conferment of proprietary rights of around 20.55 lakh kanals to the occupants of which only 15.85% land was approved for vesting of ownership rights. Against the expected/ anticipated revenue from such occupants, the revenue actually generated has been meagre thereby failing to realize the objectives of the scheme.

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