Roshni Scheme repealed in J-K

The Jammu and Kashmir administration Wednesday approved repeal of the J&K State Lands (vesting of ownership to the occupants) Act, 2001, commonly known as the Roshni scheme, an official spokesman said.

The decision was taken by the State Administrative Council (SAC), which met here under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik, he said.

"All pending proceedings under the act shall stand cancelled immediately and abate. However, the SAC directed that any action taken under the provisions of the repealed act shall not be invalid," the spokesman said.

The Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (vesting of ownership to the occupants) Act was enacted in 2001 with the twin objective 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 rules under the act were also notified.

Under the provisions of the act, applications for conferment of ownership rights were to be filed up to March 31, 2007.

Any application filed after the said date was not to be considered under the provisions of the act. This would lead to the inference that the provisions of the act had actually become inoperable viz-a-viz conferment of ownership rights on the state land after March 31, 2007.

The scheme initially envisaged conferment of proprietary rights of around 20.55 lakh kanals (102750 hectares) to the occupants of which only 15.85 per cent land was approved for vesting of ownership rights, the spokesman said.

Against the expected or anticipated revenue from such occupants, he said the revenue actually generated has been meagre thereby, failing to realise the objective of the scheme.

There have also been reports about the misuse of some provisions of legislation, the spokesman said.

The entire legislation was challenged before the state high court, in a public interest litigation (PIL), wherein the court besides staying the proceedings under the said act also directed that neither the occupants having been conferred upon the ownership rights shall sell these lands nor can raise constructions on such lands.

The PIL is pending before the court which has also directed that no further transaction of any kind in respect of the property covered under the Roshni Act shall be affected till further orders.

"After careful consideration of all pros and cons of the scheme, the SAC concluded that the scheme has not served the desired purpose and is no longer relevant in the present context," the spokesman said.