Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 26: A meeting of the joint Select Committee of legislators of both the Houses, constituted to look into the proposed Government Bill on prohibiting conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes was held here today under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Revenue, Ajaz Ahmed Khan.
The Committee held threadbare discussion on various aspects of the proposed Bill and its benefits. Most of the members opined that the Bill should be passed after adding certain new clauses which are mandatory to ensure proper use of land and to save the agricultural land from further shrinkage in view of widespread constructions for residential as well as commercial purposes. The members insisted that the proposed law should not create any hurdle for the land owners for constructing their houses and permission process should be simplified.
The Committee opined that the Bill has lot of scope for improvement and sought to seek views of various stakeholders for the purpose. All the departments connected with the issue like Revenue, Housing, Agriculture and Law would put forth their view point in the light of today’s discussion so that the law is made more useful for the users, maintained the Committee.
The aim and objective of the Government Bill is to prohibit conversion of agricultural land for other purposes in view of the large scale constructions on agricultural land which has led to decline in the agriculture production in the State. After the introduction of Bill in the lower House and after brief discussion and demand of the Members it was referred to Select Committee for further study and suitable recommendations.
The meeting was attended by legislators, Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Rani Bloria, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Abdul Gaffar Sofi, Charanjeet Singh, Syed Asgar Ali, Dr. B.A. Veeri, Commissioner/Secretary Agriculture, Dr. Asgar Samoon, Secretary, Revenue, Vinod Koul, Additional Secretary Assembly, M. R. Singh, Directors Agriculture, Kashmir/Jammu and officers of Law Department.
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