Jammu, Dec 16: In a significant decision, the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council on Thursday approved the regulations framed by the board of revenue for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes.
These regulations were necessitated after the legislative changes in the land revenue act post-reorganization of the erstwhile state.
The Administrative Council met under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the meeting was attended by Farooq Khan and Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisors to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K and Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor.
Official spokesman said that these regulations have been issued to regulate the uncontrolled conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes on the one hand and keeping the developmental aspirations of the UT and the people on the other hand.
Under the new regulations, the District Collector has been empowered to grant permission to the change the land use pattern from agricultural to non-agricultural purposes in accordance with the procedure as to be notified by the board of Revenue.
The permission is to be granted within 30 days of filing of the application with a provision of deemed approval if no decision is taken.
Powers have been delegated to the District Collector to grant permission for land up to 12 ½ standard acres against a fee of 5 percent of the market value of the land notified under the Stamps Act.
The regulations empower the applicant to commence the non agriculture use on the permitted land within one year from the date of the order issued by the District Collector on this behalf. However, the land can be diverted and used only for the purpose specified in the permission.
The Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Tehsildar concerned have been entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of these regulations within their respective areas of jurisdiction. Besides, it will be the duty of every Agriculture Extension Officer to report cases of violation to the revenue officers and any neglect on this account can attract disciplinary action for dereliction of duty.
Through this step, the UT will be at par with the leading states of the country in allowing the conversion and reducing compliance burden under the Business Reforms Action Plan (Ease of Doing Business) in an investor friendly eco-system.
Meanwhile in another decision, the Administrative Council accorded the administrative approval to the construction of an additional block of Indira Gandhi Government Dental College, Jammu at an estimated cost of Rs. 44.46 crores.
The construction of the new block will cater to the increased patient load by creating infrastructure for several clinical departments including hospital administration, emergency section, operation theatre, wards, prosthodontist and dental material department, pedodontics department, oral pathology, dental histology department, and community dentistry department.
The enhanced infrastructure will also remove the deficiency pointed out by the team of Dental Council of India (DCI) during their visit to the college in terms of in-sufficient building infrastructure for starting of PG Courses during the next session.
The decision is aimed at providing quality dental services to the public and introducing post graduate courses in dental care. It will also support the up-gradation of vital Dental care services on modern grounds.
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