Ghulam Nabi Azad, the chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, announced on Thursday that if his party wins in the upcoming assembly elections, he will reintroduce the Roshni Act in the Union Territory. The Roshni Act grants ownership rights to occupants of land.
The Act was enacted in 2001 by the National Conference government and repealed in November 2018 by then governor Satya Pal Malik.
Azad, while addressing a rally at Larnoo Kokernag, said, “If we form the government, then we will implement the Roshni scheme once again.”
“We have back-to-back crises in Jammu and Kashmir. The poor are being crushed with soaring electricity bills, water charges and now the property tax. My aim is to build Jammu and Kashmir as a welfare state where the economy grows to an extent where people are willing to pay taxes themselves,” he added.
The Roshni Act, officially known as Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to Occupants) Act, 2001, was enacted by the Farooq Abdullah government.
The law was modified during Azad’s tenure from 2005-2008.
In 2014, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report had pointed out that many political persons from different parties had been benefited under the Act. In November 2018, then governor Satya Pal Malik had repealed the Act.
On October 9, 2020, the high court of J&K and Ladakh had declared the Act illegal, unconstitutional and unsustainable, and ordered a CBI probe.
Later, the government decided to retrieve such land.
