On 9 October 2020, following demands from IkkJutt Jammu, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court deemed the law and all allotments made since the beginning as “null and void” and “unconstitutional”.

The court also said that the rules framed in 2007 by the Government of Ghulam Nabi Azad did not appear to have any legislative sanction. The state government has said that it will recover land distributed under the scheme in six months. All the identities of those who took advantage of the scheme will be made public.

On 22 October 2020, the administration of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory ordered the submission of comprehensive details of ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, police officers, government employees, businessmen, other influential persons and their relatives who have benefitted from the Act.

The list of beneficiaries of the alleged Rs 25,000 crore scam in Srinagar includes former finance minister and ex-PDP member Haseeb Drabu and three of his family members, Congress treasurer K K Amla and three of his family members; and four National Conference leaders, including Sajjad Kichloo and Haroon Chaudhary.

The list, prepared on the directions of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, also names former Congress minister and ex-Doda MLA Abdul Majid Wani and former chairman of J&K Bank M Y Khan. The court had directed the names to be put in the public domain, and more are expected to come out.

What was Roshni Act?

Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to Occupants) Act, 2001 commonly known as Roshni Act was promulgated during Chief Minister Farooq Adbullah’s government in 2001. The law granted ownership of Jammu and Kashmir state land to illegal encroachers with the aim of raising money for power projects upon payment of a sum to be determined by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. The cut-off year was set as 1990 by the Government of Farooq Abdullah, which in 2005 was relaxed to 2004 by the then PDP-Congress Government and further relaxed to 2007 by the Government of Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The act got the unofficial name of “Roshni Act” from the J&K Government’s said plan of using the funds raised from this to fund power projects in the state.[

The Roshni act formed to earn revenue for commissioning hydroelectric power projects in J&K state and hence the name was “Roshni”. As per act, the transfer of ownership rights of state land to its occupants, subject to the payment of a cost, as determined by the government. It was expected that state govt. was to earn Rs 25,000 crore by transferring 20 lakh kanals of state land to existing occupants at market rates. There was several amendment made in the act. It was under Farooq Abdullah, 1990 as the cutoff for encroachment on state land. In 2005, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP-Congress government relaxed the cutoff year to 2004. During the tenure of Ghulam Nabi Azad, the cutoff was relaxed further to 2007

Land Scam
The Roshni Act, which was scrapped in November 2018 by then governor Satya Pal Malik, whose administration found the law to be an attempt to change the demographics of the entire region. Governor Malik’s administration scrapped the law because it was unable to meet its desired benefits and instead it was misused by valley politicians. The state govt. was supposed to earn Rs 25,000 crore but got only Rs 76 crore and this was found in Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in 2014 and it blamed irregularities including arbitrary reduction in prices fixed by a standing committee, and said this was done to benefit politicians and affluent people. CAG found that there has been a miscarriage of Roshni act by the politicians of J&K. Areas in Jammu city which seen sudden rise of Muslim population are: Gujjar Nagar, Bathindi and Sunjuwan (Terrorist attacked happened in 2018 at Army camp).

An Independent organization Ikkut Jammu had submitted its report and as per their finding almost 50 lakh Kanal of land is being allotted to Muslims in much lesser price than market rate in Jammu city. Currently the matter is sub-judice in J&K High Court. The petition submitted before the court revealed that in the disguise of Roshni act, Politicians had legalized all illegal lands and allotted deliberately only to one community. As per report, about 90 per cent were Muslims beneficiaries who enjoyed the Roshni act in much lesser rate.

In 2014 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had raised irregularities and in 2015 the State Vigilance Organisation had charged over 20 government officials for misuse of the act; no one was prosecuted. From 2015 onwards, efforts were made to get back some of the illegally acquired land.

In 2018 the act was repealed during the tenure of the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik who ordered the case investigation to be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On 9 October 2020, following demands from IkkJutt Jammu, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court deemed the law and all allotments made since the beginning as “null and void” and “unconstitutional”.  The court also said that the rules framed in 2007 by the Government of Ghulam Nabi Azad did not appear to have any legislative sanction. The state government has said that it will recover land distributed under the scheme in six months. All the identities of those who took advantage of the scheme will be made public.

On 22 October 2020, the administration of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory ordered the submission of comprehensive details of ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, police officers, government employees, businessmen, other influential persons and their relatives who have benefitted from the Act.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.