Info sought by MHA given, order likely soon
Of 46,666 kanals land, nearly half belongs to Custodian
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 19: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to amend the Rules for grant of nearly 23,000 kanals of Custodian Department land to the West Pakistani refugees as the rules so far don’t permit conferment of ownership rights on this land.
“Formalities in this regard are being completed by the Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Union Home Ministry as both are determined to confer ownership rights of land in possession of the West Pakistani refugees for last over seven decades now since their migration from across the border after independence,” official sources told the Excelsior.
Few days back, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had made all important announcement that the West Pakistani refugees will be given ownership rights of the land in their possession for past many decades. The announcement had come as a major relief for the West Pakistani refugees.
Prior to this, Excelsior had exclusively reported that the Government planned to give ownership rights of land to the West Pakistani refugees who were discriminated a lot by the successive Governments till Narendra-Modi led BJP Government abrogated special status of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State and brought them at par with other citizens.
“An exhaustive exercise has been carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir Government on land in possession of the West Pakistani refugees. It surfaced during the exercise that nearly 24,000 kanals of State land and around 23,000 kanals Custodian land was in possession of the West Pakistani refugees,” sources said.
They added that the land was mainly allotted to them in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts and falls in rural areas.
While there was no problem to the Government on allotment of State land to the West Pakistani refugees, the laws barred conferment of ownership rights of the Custodian land as it was given to the people on meager rent only for living.
A special Custodian Department has been created by the Government for protection and maintenance of the land which was left by the people while migrating to Pakistan during partition.
“The Union Home Ministry officials have obtained entire data of Custodian land in possession of the West Pakistani refugees from the Jammu and Kashmir Government and other details including existing laws and proposed amendments required to be carried out for conferring ownership rights to West Pakistani refugees,” sources said.
The Home Ministry officials Incharge Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh desk are reportedly dealing with the issue and are shortly expected to come up with amendments in laws to grant ownership rights to the West Pakistani refugees on both State and Custodian land.
After abrogation of special status of erstwhile State of J&K on August 5, 2019, the Government declared West Pakistani refugees, Valmikis and Gorkhas as domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) and West Pakistani refugees were paid Rs 5.5 lakh compensation per family by the BJP Government at the Centre. Some of the West Pakistani refugee families are yet to get compensation due to delay in completion of formalities.
The West Pakistani refugees were given 46,666 kanals of land on May 7, 1954 in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts but were not conferred with ownership rights as they were not treated as the State Subjects.
The land was mostly allotted in Pargwal island in Akhnoor, RS Pura and Bishnah tehsils in Jammu, parts of Samba and Hiranagar in Kathua district besides some other places.
Due to denial of rights to the West Pakistani refugees including State Subject rights, they couldn’t get the Government jobs and other facilities to which residents of Jammu and Kashmir were entitled. This discrimination was undone after the Central Government on August 5, 2019 scrapped special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated erstwhile State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Sources said grant of ownership rights to West Pakistani refugees will go a long way in their settlement here.
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