State Subject practice has a long history in our State. During the rule of Maharaja Pratap Singh, a law was enacted forbidding people outside the State to purchase immoveable property within the jurisdiction of the State or to seek employment in the State Government. It looks a bizarre law but the law makers then had genuine reasons to pass the law. The State at that time was economically very weak and people were far less literate to run the administration. Outsiders, meaning people from the neighbouring States, who were more educated and economically better placed, came to Kashmir in good numbers and conducted business. In the process they would want to have landed property and residential houses within the State. Likewise, since the people of the State were far less educated, the Government was obliged to employ educated and qualified persons from outside to help run the administration of the State. But as education spread, though still on a smaller scale among the locals, they found that Government jobs were mostly filled by outsiders. These were the reasons why the State Subject law was enacted according to which no outsider could buy landed property or seek employment in the State.
The matter attained much significance after the tribal attack on the State in October 1947. That forced millions of Hindus and Sikhs from the present PoK territories to migrate to Jammu or to Indian side. Likewise some Muslims from the Indian part of the State migrated to PoK and Pakistan. Those who came from PoK demanded that they be given permanent resident certificate so as to benefit from the facilities given to the permanent residents. This became a contentious issue between the incoming refugees and the State Government. The latter had hesitation in issuing PRC as it claimed that many refugees who had come to the Indian part of J&K were not original inhabitants of the State but had come from other parts of the Punjab. This controversy has been going on ever since and no final solution has been found. The migrants/refugees from PoK continue their agitation against the discriminative policy of the State government. However, the State Government did relent but only nominally. It authorised the Revenue Department to issue Permanent Resident Certificates (PRC) in favour of some refugees who fulfilled all the conditions laid down in the J&K Grant of Permanent Resident Certificate Act, 1963. The refugees are not satisfied with the Act saying that the conditions laid down for qualifying one to be eligible for receipt of the PRC are harsh and unhelpful. The entire process, they claim, is cumbersome and hardly supportive one. The MLAs raised the issue of processing of PRC applications in the sessions of the legislature. One of the provisions empowering the revenue officer to issue the PRC is that the issuing authority should himself be a permanent resident of the State. On the face of it, this seems a very ridiculous rule. It means the Government does not have full trust in the issuing authority if he or she is not a permanent resident of the State. Thus on the transfer of this officer, the process of conferring authority of issuing PRC on the succeeding officer could not be automatic but had to obtain the authority of the law and the revenue departments. This meant a long delay in conferring authority for issuing PRC on the new incumbent.
It is now known that the Government is mulling amendment to the 1963 Act by virtue of which authority will be invested in the post and not the person who is authorised to issue the PRC on district level. In case of any hindrance, the Divisional Commission/Deputy Commissioner will be empowered to issue the PRC. This measure is meant only to reduce the complexity once a revenue officer authorised to issue the certificate is transferred and is succeeded by a new incumbent. But the amendment does not envisage any concrete relief to the applicants for PRC. We would like to emphasize on the government to revisit the entire policy and practice of issuing PRC and bring about practical modifications in the law. Even now, clandestine movement of men into the State and obtaining of PRC continues clandestinely and several such cases are pending before State Subject Commission for several years. Much needs to be done and essentially the issue has to be treated on humanitarian grounds.
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