JKSAC demands withdrawal of Custodian General’s order on land allotted to DPs

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 17: Jammu Kashmir Sharnarthi Action Committee (JKSAC) has strongly condemned Custodian General of J&K UT for issuing order No. CG (EP) 1164-73/2020 dated 22nd July 2020, according to which all the Sub-Registrars of UT of J&K will not make any registration without obtaining NoC from the Office of Custodian General for any kind of land particularly evacuee land allotted to DPs of 1947 from PoK vide order no. 578-C of 1954.
In a core group meeting of JKSAC, the participants termed this order as anti-DPs, ambiguous and a blatant gross violation of Section-3A of Agrarian Reform Act 1976 and 1978 (amendment). The members appealed to LG Manoj Sinha to take cognizance of anti-DPs order and issue strict directions to Custodian General (CG) to withdraw the illegal order forthwith.
While deliberating upon contents of the said order, Gurdev Singh President alongwith Santosh Kumar Sharma and Dwarka Nath Khajuria, said that the order is a gross violation of an established law and beyond the competency of the Custodian General. “Custodian General is only an executive agency which is meant to manage the affairs of the department as per the prescribed rules and regulations and has no competency to over-rule the Section-3A of the Agrarian Reform Act of 1976 passed by the Legislative Assembly,” they added.
They further explained that DPs were allotted evacuee lands vide order No. 578 of 1954 dated 7-5-1954 for agricultural purposes. Later, occupancy tenancy rights were conferred to DPs vide section-3A of the Agrarian Reform Act of 1976 and 1978 (Amendment) Act No. 5 of 1978, which provides “such displaced persons shall have the right to transfer their occupancy tenancy rights, by sale, mortgage, gift or exchange”. As per the communication by Special Secy Rehabilitation Deptt, to GoI, vide No. RAHAB-9/11/79 dated 27-11-79, DPs need no permission from any of the agencies of the J&K Govt to sell, mortgage, gift or transfer allotted land under occupancy tenancy rights.
The JKSAC alleged that the new order by the Custodian General has been issued under a conspiracy to create law and order problem and to defame the Government. “Custodian Department is a den of corruption and this order would open the flood gates,” the meet said and appealed to LG to revoke this illegal order forthwith.
The meeting was attended by Netar Parkash, Rajesh Khajuria, Om Parkash Panch, Inderjeet Singh, Avinash Singh, Mukesh Sharma and others.