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| When will EP tenants get "Roshi" | | | Early Times Special Correspondent
Jammu | Sep 26
With ownership rights conferred on the allotees of state land measuring 21.5 lakh kanals, valuing Rs.16,000 crore, on the farmers cultivating the same for a long, the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad can claim to have brought Roshni in the houses of tens of thousands of farmers in the state. Under the Roshni Act amended last year by the government, the allotees of government lands who were tilling the same for last few decades have now become their owners, which is definitely a matter of jubilation for them. They can now mortgage their holdings, in part or as a whole, to get loans from the banks or from other financial institutions. Also in case of any piece of their land acquired by the government for some project, these owners of the lands will be entitled to compensation at market value. With the sword of uncertainty over their heads, in respect of their status over the land under their possession removed, the farmers can now invest to purchase latest implements and equipments to undertake farming on modern scientific methods. This is definitely a revolutionary step, coming long after the one in the form of Agrarian Reform Act passed by the first government of Sheikh Abdullah in 1950, under which huge lands belonging to the big landlords, but being cultivated by the tillers, was transformed to the latter, without any compensation to be paid by them to the landlords whose rights to the land were snatched.
All this is quite welcomed, but when will there be Roshi in the houses of several thousand tenants of Evacuee Property agricultural lands as well as houses in the rural areas and residential and commercial property allotted to the tenants, some of them for over five decades now, in the urban areas. In the wake of implementation of Roshi Act, with its latest amendment, conferring ownership rights on the government lands either allotted formally to them on lease or the ones encroached upon by them and on which they have raised some superstructure or buildings, the long pending demand of EP tenants both in the rural and urban areas, for conferring proprietary rights on them has got impetus. These unfortunate lot of permanent state resident people, whose number in urban areas would not be more than few thousands, while in the rural areas will be below one lakh, continue to be in a state of uncertainty in respect of their status with the lands they are tilling for last over five decades and the residential houses in which they are living for almost the same time as well as the commercial shops, from where these tenants are earning their livelihood, have been denied their due, despite their agitating peacefully for getting the ownership rights on the lands and property under their occupation.
In the wake of partition of the country and J&K acceding to India a large number of Muslims migrated to PoK and Pakistan in 1947 and after that. As custodian of their agricultural landed property as well as their houses, Evacuee Property Department was constituted for the management, upkeep and maintenance of this property. In most of the cases the entire character of the buildings belonging to the evacuees, was totally changed, by raising fresh buildings on the same or totally renovating the existence ones. Stood allotted to the houseless tenants in the urban areas and to the landless tillers in rural areas, for last over five decades, the occupants have converted the barren land in the border areas, tilling the same under the shadow of gun fires from across the border, fertile one, while in the urban areas the tenants have spent huge amount out of their hard earned money to maintain and improve upon the houses and shops allotted to them on rent. Yet the sword of uncertainty over their heads continues hanging. The EP Department has not been spending even a single penny on the maintenance of these houses, with the result that the onus for the same has fallen on the allotees, who have no permanent status and right over this property. They are subjected to harassment, with EP Department invariably issuing the eviction notices on them and these allotees even having no right to transfer this property in favour of their natural heirs.
The government plea in denying ownership rights on allotees in respect of EP property that the same belongs to the evacuees from this stage to PoK and Pakistan and their right over these has been kept intact and anytime they choose to return and decide to stay in this state, their claim over their property can be entertained, under the Resettlement Act also called Bill no.9 passed by Sheikh Abdullah government in early 1980s. However a course suggested to overcome this problem is that while these properties should be transferred in the name of their occupants for a long time, with conferring ownership rights on them, on higher purchase basis by charging the remaining cost, calculated on the bases of market value of the property at the time it was allotted to the tenants and after deducting the amount of rent already paid by them and the amount thus collected to be deposited in the account of the evacuees. This will benefit the government, who is spending huge amount on the establishment of the department on their salaries and perks, while the amount deposited in banks will earn good interest and their claimants too will be benefited, whereas the houseless people will get houses of their own.
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