PAGD slams Centre for lifting curbs on land purchase in UTs

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 27

The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on Tuesday condemned the Centre’s move to lift curbs on the purchase of land in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and pledged to fight the attempt on all fronts — political and legal.

The seven-party front slammed the development related to repeal of Jammu and Kashmir land laws as highly prejudicial to the interests of locals saying the move is an affront to the apex court which is seized of a legal challenge to the August 5, 2019 decisions reorganising J&K into two UTs and abrogating Article 370.

The Centre’s intervention strips permanent residents of J&K and Ladakh of hitherto exclusive rights to acquire and hold immovable property in the state.

Terming the Home Ministry order a huge betrayal of the people of J&K and Ladakh, PAGD spokesperson Sajjad Lone said it was a massive assault on the rights of locals and “grossly unconstitutional”.

“The repeal of Big Estates Abolition Act — the first-ever agrarian reform in the subcontinent — is an insult to the sacrifices of thousands of freedom fighters and farmers who fought against an autocratic and oppressive rule and a crude attempt to rewrite history. The order made in exercise of powers under the Reorganisation Act, 2019, is yet another brazen violation of the principle of constitutional propriety of fundamental importance to a constitutional democracy,” Lone said.

The People’s Conference chief recalled the legal challenge to the August 5, 2019, developments in the Supreme Court and questioned the propriety behind the Centre’s moves.

“With a serious challenge to the August 5, 2019, decisions before the top constitutional court of the country and the constitutionality of the J&K Reorganisation Act under judicial scrutiny, the Centre is under an obligation to desist from such acts out of respect for the apex court,” Lone said alleging the measure as “unconstitutional” and one “clearly designed to pre-empt the outcome of the challenge before the SC”.

“The assault on exclusive property rights apart, changes in urban development laws and creation of security zones are bound to prejudicially affect the environment and the ecosystem in the fragile regions of J&K and Ladakh in utter disregard of grave environmental concerns,” Lone said.

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah also separately termed the newly introduced J&K Development Act, which comes into effect immediately, hostile to the interests of locals and said, “The amendments to the land ownership law have put J&K and Ladakh up for sale. With these new laws, tokenism of the domicile certificate has been done away with as purchasing non-agricultural land has been made easier. The new laws are unacceptable to people of J&K and Ladakh,” he said.

Omar accused the BJP of playing opportunistic politics and said, “The Centre waited for elections to the LAHDC to conclude to do what it did today. This is what Ladakhis get for trusting the BJP.”

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti termed the developments as “yet another step towards disenfranchising the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.