Jammu, Feb 16: Senior PDP legislator Waheed ur Rehman Parra is set to introduce a private member’s bill in the upcoming Budget Session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, seeking proprietary rights for residents whose houses are constructed on public land in the Union Territory.
The bill, titled “The Jammu and Kashmir (Regularisation and Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Public Land) Bill, 2025,” has been submitted to the Assembly Secretariat by the PDP MLA from Pulwama.
The move comes in response to the large-scale anti-encroachment drive conducted by the Lieutenant Governor-led administration in 2023, which led to the retrieval of thousands of hectares of state land, including Roshni and Kahcharai (grazing) land. The controversial Roshni Act, originally meant to transfer ownership of 20.55 lakh kanals (1,02,750 hectares) of land to occupants, was repealed in 2018, and all such land transfers were nullified by the Union Territory administration on November 1, 2020. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had earlier declared the scheme “unconstitutional” in 2020.
Parra’s proposed legislation seeks special provisions to confer ownership or transfer rights to individuals residing on state land, Kahcharai land, common land, and Shamilat land (as per Section 4 of the J&K Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976). The bill argues that such a measure is essential under Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to shelter.
“It is necessary to enact a law that grants ownership or transfer rights as a one-time special measure,” Parra stated.
He emphasized that rapid population growth, coupled with governmental failure to regulate construction, had resulted in widespread unauthorized settlements over the decades. The bill proposes that only residents with a valid Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) who have been in continuous physical possession of their homes for over 20 years—excluding symbolic possession—should be eligible for regularization.
The proposed law would cover land beneath and adjacent to residential houses, explicitly excluding commercial buildings. It also calls for the formation of a government sub-committee to oversee regularization, identify eligible beneficiaries, and fix a nominal fee per marla for ownership transfer.
Parra, however, proposed that regularization charges should not exceed one-third of the circular rate in the specified area. He also suggested exemptions for weaker sections of society, including:
- Below Poverty Line (BPL) families
- Widows with no legal heirs
- Persons with over 70% disability
- Legal heirs of fallen ex-servicemen from the Army or J&K Police
Additionally, the bill restricts relief for unauthorized construction or encroachments after March 1, 2025, and excludes land falling in restricted areas, such as along national highways and scheduled roads, or any area designated under Central or State laws.
The proposed bill is expected to trigger intense debate, given the administration’s tough stance on land encroachments and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Roshni Act.
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