THE ROSHINI ACT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR ABOLISHED
Jammu and Kashmir State Land
(Vesting of Ownership to Occupants) Act, 2001 commonly known as Roshni Act was
promulgated during Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's government in 2001.
By this act, Jammu and Kashmir
State lands were given to unauthorised occupants of those lands with a cut-off
of 1990 upon payment of a sum to be determined by the Government of Jammu and
Kashmir with the aim of raising money for power projects.
Since the aim was to generate resources for hydroelectric power projects, it was called Roshni Act – Light Act. Roshni means Light.
In 2005, the PDP-Congress
coalition government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed amended the Act to relax the
cut-off year from 1990 to 2004. In a later amendment, the Ghulam Nabi Azad
government set the premium at 25% of the market rate and the cut-off date at
2007.
The said so called Roshni Act –
supposed to bring Light to the J & K was aimed at to bring permanent Darkness
to Kashmiri Pundits as this act of Farooq Abdullah was to legalize the usurped
occupations of the houses, shops, gardens and fields of Kashmiri Hindu Pundits
who had fled Kashmir in 1990 due to Muslims’ Terrorisms.
So the Farooq Abdullah as the
Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, signed "The Roshni Act" and
through this "Roshni Act", the land, farm, house or shop of any Hindu
became that of a Muslim on a throw away rates.
In particular, the Roshni Act of Farooq Abdullah government gave free
ownership rights on agricultural land to farmers occupying it, who only needed
to pay Rs 100 per kanal of land as documentation fee. Roshni Act was enacted to
‘Light’ the lives of Muslims by darkening the Lives of Kashmiri Hindu Pundits
on a permanent footing – Injustice to the native Hindus of Kashmir.
Now, it was found that the beneficiaries of Land Allotment through Roshni Act are said to be former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, the former Finance Minister of J&K Haseeb Drabu, Congress leader Majid Wani, former Home Minister and NC leader Sajjad Kitchloo and former JK Bank Chairman MY Khan and many other politicians, bureaucrats and influential persons.
Hence, the CAG termed the Roshni
Act scheme a Rs-25,000-crore scam. It flagged irregularities and said arbitrary
reduction of prices by a standing committee was done to benefit politicians and
influential people.
In 2018 the act was repealed
prospectively by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik and he also
ordered the Rs.25,000 crore Roshni Scam to be investigated by the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It was also decided to retrieve land transferred
under the Roshni scheme.
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.
From 2015 onwards, efforts were made to get back some of the illegally acquired
land.
On 9 October 2020, the Jammu and
Kashmir High Court deemed the law and all allotments made since the beginning
as "null and void" and "unconstitutional". It ordered a CBI
probe into transfer of ownership, sought action against bureaucrats involved,
and asked the government to make public the names of prominent people allotted
land. According to the order, complete identities of all influential persons,
including Ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, government officials, police
officers, businessmen, etc., and their relatives or persons holding benami for
them, who have derived benefit under the Act, will be made public.
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 said that it
will recover land distributed under the scheme in six months and that all the
identities of those who took advantage of the scheme will be made public.
Three Personalities are Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik , PM Modi and HM Amit Shaw
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