* Irregular mutations allowed; mandatory mapping ignored
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 5: Jammu and Kashmir Government has continued to allow more than 17 lakh kanal State land under unauthorized occupation despite the clear provisions in the State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, commonly known as Roshni Act, about evicting such encroachments within a period of two months from expiry of the deadline for filing applications under the Act.
This is yet another startling revelation of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, which has even pointed out that Government transferred the land to such persons, who were not in the actual physical possession of the land, and remained mute spectator to the irregular mutation of lands besides irregular transfer of lands adjoining roads and highways in order to confer undue benefits to the illegal occupants at the cost of State exchequer.
Against 20,64,971 kanals of State land, the Government approved transfer of 3,48,160 kanals of land under the much talked out Roshni Act thereby rendering the remaining more than 17 lakh kanal of land as illegally encroached.
All the unauthorized occupants of the State lands, whether under expired leases or otherwise, who had not even applied for transfer of ownership under the Act, or whose applications had been rejected or who had failed to pay the amount asked by statutory committee within the maximum period of two years allowed under the Rules were to be evicted within two months after expiry of two years period, the CAG said, adding the important aspect of eviction of unauthorized occupants, however, was completely ignored.
What to talk of Roshni Act, even the other land laws state that unauthorized occupants of the land are required to be evicted failing which the concerned authorities are liable to be punished by the Government. But during the past seven years the Government maintained blind eye towards the illegal occupants thereby depriving the Government of huge chunk of land.
For instance, in Srinagar, 108 occupants for whom 160 kanals land had been approved for transfer by the empowered committee, failed to pay Rs 38 crore as demanded by the committee, the CAG said, adding of these, approvals for 94 occupants were given before the year 2010 and hence such unauthorized occupants among the applicants were liable for eviction.
Similarly, as many as 14,648 applications involving 22,276 kanals of land had been rejected in Budgam, Anantnag and Pulwama districts but the occupants had not been evicted.
The CAG has also brought to the fore another grave irregularity whereby land was transferred to persons, who were not in actual physical possession of the same.
“Lands were transferred to such persons who were not in actual physical possession of land, having unauthorizedly sub-let it to others though the Act allows transfer of lands only to those in actual physical possession”, the CAG said.
Under Section 5 of the Act, an application should be accompanied by documentary proof to the effect that the applicant is an occupant of a particular category of the State land in question and that an entry stands recorded to this effect in Khasra Girdawari in the name of the applicant.
In 25 cases in Pulwama, the names of the applicants were not found recorded as occupants of the State land as per revenue records as such could not be treated as occupants but ownership of 87 kanals of land was irregularly transferred in their favour.
Likewise, in 30 cases in Jammu, Samba and Udhampur, vacant land measuring 62 kanals and 17 marlas under the possession of Government was transferred to certain applicants although their names didn’t appear in the Khasra Girdawari, the CAG said, adding the land transfer was approved on the basis of occupation verified through on-the-spot witnesses.
Moreover, in 31 cases in Jammu, State land had been transferred in excess of land shown as occupied in the revenue records indicating that the transfer of land had been approved without verifying the relevant documents.
Pointing towards Section 6 of the Roshni Act, which states that State land falling within 50 feet and 75 feet from the centre on either side of any interior road and highways are to be considered only for grant of lease hold rights, the CAG said that land measuring 129 kanals and four marlas was transferred in Pulwama to 59 occupants against clear prohibition in the Act as the land was coming within 50 feet from the centre of the interior road.
It has also been noticed that in Srinagar where the ownership of portions of lands coming under such restrictions was not transferred but these lands were nevertheless allowed to be unauthorizedly retained by the applicants, rather than being formally leased out.
Under the Stamp Duty Act, land transfers are required to be registered on payment of applicable Stamp Duty and to complete the legal process of transfer of title of land, mutation of title in Revenue records should be carried out only after duly registered transfer deed. However, CAG noticed that this was not done and the State exchequer was put to loss not only on account of transfer of lands free or below the price fixed by the committees but also on account of non-collection of Stamp Duty.
Notwithstanding the clear provision about mapping of the State land before detailing various provisions enabling transfer of State lands to occupants, mapping exercise was not done and Revenue Department proceeded with the vesting of ownership rights in respect of occupied State lands, which affected the determination of market value of the transferred lands by the committees.
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