Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Jammu and Kashmir Land Laws)

Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Topic: Jammu and Kashmir Land Laws

Jammu and Kashmir Land Laws

Why in News?

  • The central government has notified two orders — the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Fifth Order, 2020 — that repealed 12 Acts and amended 14 laws related to land in the erstwhile state.

Key Provisions

  • Under the new arrangements, no domicile or permanent resident certificate is required to purchase non-agricultural land in the UT.
  • The Union home ministry has also notified the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, paving way for the acquisition of land in J&K by all Indian citizens.
  • Previously, article 35-A of J&K Constitution, watered down on August 5, 2019, placed prohibitions on the sale of land to those who were not state subjects.
  • The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has revoked 12 state laws as a whole while another 26 have been adapted with changes or substitutes. Laws which are repealed as a whole include the Jammu and Kashmir Alienation of Land Act, Jammu and Kashmir Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, Jammu and Kashmir Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1956, Jammu and Kashmir Consolidation of Holdings Act 1962, Jammu and Kashmir Right of Prior Purchase Act, and the Jammu and Kashmir Utilization of Lands Act.

Other Changes

  • The order also extends the operation of The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), 2016 — a central law — to the UT.
  • RERA seeks to protect home-buyers and also boost investment in the real estate industry. It allows an authority to regulate the real estate sector and also acts as an adjudicating body for speedy property dispute resolution.
  • The order introduces a new section in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment Act that recognises the spouse of a civil servant, posted in the UT, also as a domicile. The norm was earlier applicable only to the children of central government officials posted in the region for a period of not less than 10 years.
  • Another significant amendment is the addition of a new clause in the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act. This new section allows the government, on the written request of an Army officer not below the rank of corps commander, to declare an area as a strategic area, for operational and training requirements.
  • This will permit the defence forces to induct personnel in the strategic area, based on requirement and in case of an emergency.
  • The government has also set up a new body called the J&K Industrial Development Corporation, under the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Development Act, to speed up industrial development, invite investment, set up industrial units and promote corporate farming.

Gupkar Declaration II

  • In this declaration six political have vowed to fight collectively against the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status.
  • The six political parties include-- The National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Indian National Congress, the J&K Peoples Conference (PC), the Communist Party of India (Marxist)(CPI (M)) and the Awami National Conference (ANC).
  • The parties, in a joint statement, described the Centre’s decision to alter the region’s status under Article 370 as “grossly unconstitutional” and a “measure to disempower” the people of the erstwhile state.
  • The first Gupkar Declaration was a resolution issued after an all-party meeting on 4 August, 2019 at the Gupkar Road residence of the NC president.
  • Gupkar Declaration has been hailed by Pakistani politicians and has been widely publicised.
  • Many political parties has expressed that they fear demographic change with no protection to ethnic population.