Mahajan, Khatri, Sikh private sale, purchase of farmland in some areas – Jammu Kashmir Latest news | Tourism

Amendment of article 133-H of the Law on Land Revenue required

Excelsior correspondent

JAMMU, April 8: Despite the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019 by the central government, large sections of the population, including West Pakistani refugees, Valmikis, etc., who were deprived of their genuine rights by successive previous governments, got their due, the Mahajans, Khatris and Sikhs in the Union territory began to face new inequalities as they were deprived of certain rights of sale and purchase of farmland and entered farming as a profession.
The inequality was created with an amendment to the state’s land law, sources told the Excelsior.
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They said that at least over 10 lakh Mahajans, more than five lakh Khatris and lakhs of Sikhs were deprived of their basic right to buy or sell agricultural land because these communities were not on the “no” list. -farmers’ under Article 6 of the obsolete J&K Land Alienation Law (No V of 1995 Samvat) promulgated at the time of Maharaja Hari Singh and repealed on October 26, 2020 with half a dozen other land laws. The “caste” provision was incorporated into the J&K Land Revenue Act of Samvat 1996. Under the repealed law, lists of farming and non-farming communities were notified, by province and by district, in November 1939.
However, under the J&K Land Alienation Act, it included an easing clause for the sale of land to non-farmers up to four canals of land for building houses. Moreover, after independence, this law was not strictly followed in practice. In view of this, many families in these communities have farmland named after them, the sources said.
But the new section, sources said, banned the transfer of farmland to non-farmers and omitted the earlier relaxation of four channels available in the repealed Jammu and Kashmir land alienation law.
But the first provision of section 133-H provided for a window which read: “provided that the government or an agent authorized by it in that name can grant permission to a farmer to alienate the land to a non-farmer by way of sale, gift, exchange or mortgage or for such agreement on the conditions which may be prescribed ”. The second condition allows the leasing of land or any other arrangement to enter into an agriculture or production agreement under the provisions of the law.
According to sources, the explanation for Section 133-H indicates that a farmer means a person who personally cultivates land in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on a date which can be notified by the government. , or a class of persons who may be notified by the government from time to time. This list of “category of people” (farmers) must be notified from time to time, which means it is open, they said.
It is important to note that neither the government has notified the conditions required under the first provision nor identified categories of farmers / non-farmers, even after a year and a half of enactment. But, in the absence of these notifications, the Registration Authority began to reject the registration of deeds of sale concerning Mahajans, Khatris and Sikhs by applying the definition of farmers in Article 6 of the law. repealed in 1939.
This has led to a popular perception that these communities have been excluded from land ownership in rural areas and on the outskirts of the city of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prominent BJP leader and noted lawyer Hunar Gupta, who also wrote a detailed letter in this regard to Union Home Secretary Amit Shah with copies to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, among others, commented: The government should reconsider the issue comprehensively and amend Section 133-H of the J&K Land Revenue Act, Samvat 1996 to eliminate this bureaucratic suo moto conspiracy against the Mahajans, Khatris and the Sikhs.
Hunar Gupta urged Registration Inspector General J&K to immediately order Registrars and Deputy Registrars not to deny registration of agricultural land to Mahajans, Khatris and Sikhs by wrongly applying Ordinance No. 546 -C of 1939 issued under section 6 of the obsolete J&K Land Alienation Act promulgated during the time of Maharaja Hari Singh and repealed on October 26, 2020.
In addition, Hunar called for immediate notification of the list of categories of people (farmers / non-farmers) under section 133-H of the J&K Land Revenue Act to eliminate this anomaly.
It can be mentioned here that Hunar also actively pursued the case of the deportation of the Rohingya from Jammu to Myanmar.