Context

Recently, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has notified “J&K Land Grant Rules 2022” which has ended the owner's right to hold on to properties on lease in the Union Territory (U.T.) and plans to outsource these properties afresh online.

Background:

• The Land Grants Rules 1960 includes land grant rules for J & K, under which land was granted on lease for 99 years and had the provision of extension.
• However, it no more exists, post-5 August 2019, when J&K Reorganization Act 2019 was enacted.
• Now, the government has decided to hold the auction online for the leased land.

What are the new land reforms?

• All the outgoing lessees shall immediately hand over the possession of the land taken on lease to the government.
• In case of failing to do so, the outgoing lessee shall be evicted.
  • Exception: All the subsisting or expired residential leases have been kept out of the purview of the new rules.
• The lease period has been reduced to 40 years, earlier it was for 99 years.
• Besides, it also states that the outgoing lessees will be paid for any structure built on the land, ‘provided the lessee has not violated any of the conditions of the lease’.

Who are eligible to lease land under the new law?

• Land can be leased for education, healthcare, tourism, skill development, and recreational purposes.
• The new land law also states that land can also be provided to ex-servicemen, war widows, families of deprived categories, migrant workers, building and construction workers, and sufferers of natural calamities.
• The land could also be used for facilities for migrant workers, buildings, and other construction workers.

What will be the immediate impact of the amendments?

• The new rules have hundreds of properties open for fresh auction, where outsiders could also participate.
• The government has not yet released the list of properties where the lease has ended.
• The impact will be of great significance in the tourist hotspot Gulmarg, where 56 hotels out of 59 have their leases expired already.
  • Most of them have sprung up on the leased land.