Srinagar, June 24: The new land laws are being hailed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir as a major step towards the development and progress of J&K.
The historic initiative of the government will revamp agriculture and allied sectors besides ensuring holistic development of all sectors.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, through an order on October 26, introduced amendments to 14 laws of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and repealed 12 others. Key amendments were made to four major state laws that governed the ownership, sale, and purchase of land in the erstwhile state, like 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.
While progressive provisions of the repealed laws have been retained by including them in the modified Land Revenue Act, new provisions have been added to modernize existing laws. There are provisions for setting up of a Board of Revenue, Regional planning for regulating the use of land, alienation and conversion, land lease, consolidation and Contract Farming.
The Board of Revenue comprising senior officers will not only be the Developing Authority for preparing regional plans but can notify a scheme of consolidation of landholdings and also a scheme for restricting and regulating the fragmentation of agricultural landholdings to make agriculture viable.
The designation of land for industrial purposes will open up greater employment avenues for the youth who have always yearned for industrial revolution in J&K so that they can get better employment opportunities.
Recently, Jammu and Kashmir government signed 39 Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the National Real Estate Development Council to boost employment and per capita income.
“The NAREDCO will train 10,000 workers in various skills of the construction industry, electrical, plumbing, masonry, carpentry and the likes,” the Lieutenant Governor said, during the MoU signing event.
He said, “To facilitate transparent and accountable framework in the real estate sector, we have launched many portals — RERA portal, housing portal, integrated auction portal and these initiatives will help both developers and home buyers as one-stop portal for all their needs.”