The State Administrative Council which met here Wednesday under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik approved the repeal of the Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, commonly known as Roshni scheme.
An official spokesman said that all pending proceedings under the Act shall stand cancelled immediately, but any action taken under the provisions of the repealed Act shall not be invalid.
The Roshni scheme was enacted in 2001 to generate resources for financing power projects and confer proprietary rights to the occupants of the state land.
The Act was believed to be a revolutionary step in the annals of J&K’s history after the Agrarian Reforms Act and it was hoped that the legislation would help boost the farming sector and in turn generate substantial revenue for funding power projects across the state, the spokesman said.
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 31st March 2007 and not to be considered after that. This would lead to the inference that the provisions of the Act had actually become inoperable vis-à-vis conferment of ownership rights on the state land after 31st March 2007,” the spokesman said.
The scheme, he said, initially envisaged conferment of proprietary rights of around 20.55 lakh kanals to the occupants, of which only 15.85 percent land was approved for vesting of ownership rights. “Against the expected/anticipated revenue from such occupants, the revenue actually generated has been meager thereby failing to realise the objective of the scheme. There have also been reports about the misuse of some provisions of the legislation,” he said.
“The entire legislation was challenged before the High Court of J&K, in a Public Interest Litigation titled Ankur Sharma v/s State, wherein the High Court besides staying the proceedings under the 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 said PIL is pending before the High 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 of the Court,” the spokesman said, adding that after “careful consideration of all pros and cons of the scheme, the SAC concluded that it has not served the desired purpose and is no longer relevant in the present context.”
Advisors BB Vyas, K Vijay Kumar, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai and K K Sharma, chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and principal secretary to the governor Umang Narula attended the meeting.
WAITING LIST LIMIT ENHANCED
The SAC approved enhancement in the waiting list from existing 33.33 percent to 50 percent of the posts advertised, which shall extend to 100 percent wherever the number of posts is 10 or less, either under normal selection or under the provisions of SRO-202. “The recommendation in this regard was made by the J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB),” the spokesman said.
“The new regulations which shall come into force with immediate effect shall enable utilisation of vacancies referred to SSB for selection, thereby addressing the aspirations of the educated youth,” the spokesman said, adding that the SAC also directed the general administration department to “incorporate a similar provision for gazetted posts in the relevant rules in consultation with Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission”.
GAS NETWORK FOR J&K
The SAC said that Jammu and Kashmir is one of the few states which doesn’t have a gas pipeline entering the state.
“One of the impediments to the expansion of the National Gas Grid to J&K was certain provisions in our Jammu and Kashmir Underground Public Utilities (Acquisition of Rights of User in Land) Act 2014, because of which projects could not be implemented. The State Administrative Council today approved amendments to the above Act to increase the time-line for completing the gas projects,” the spokesman said, adding that the existing two-year time limit was “insufficient in view of the distinct topography and hilly terrain of J&K, which, therefore, required more time for implementation”.
“This has been increased to 5 years to promote participation of more gas companies in the bidding process once the Right of Way is awarded. It is hoped that with the proposed amendment, J&K will have a gas pipeline to Srinagar by the end of 2019 and City Gas Distribution networks in Jammu, Srinagar and other major towns within the next 18-24 months,” the spokesman said.
STREAMLINING WORKING OF NGOs
The SAC approved the ‘Jammu & Kashmir Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2018’ to “curb the mushroom growth of NGOs/Societies and streamline their functioning”.
“Provisions for renewal, appeal, de-registration and mandatory requirement of maintenance of accounts, address, details of members etc have been incorporated. The amendment will help to streamline the various issues related to NGOs/Societies and improve accountability,” the spokesman said.