Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah speaks during the Budget Session of the State Legislative Assembly, on April 1. Photo: X/@CM_JnK via ANI Photo
The J&K Assembly on Wednesday (April 1, 2026) admitted a Bill aimed at reversing the amendments made to the Land Grants Act 1960 by the Lieutenant Governor in 2022, which posed a threat of permanent eviction of local lease holders from government land and hotels across the region, especially in tourist places of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Patnitop.
As the Bill came up before the House, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “The Government would like the House to deliberate on the matter in detail. After that, the Government will take a decision on whether to support this Bill or not. Therefore, at this stage, I will not oppose its introduction.”
The Bill was subsequently allowed to be introduced through a voice vote. Ruling National Conference (NC) legislator Tanvir Ali Sadiq had introduced the Bill, titled J&K Land Grants (Restoration and Protection) Bill, 2025, as a private member bill. It aims to restore the rules framed in 1960 under Land Grants Act to the original form, “as it existed prior to the J&K Land Grants Act, 2022”, which was introduced by the LG.
“It will give a legal sanctity to those who are legally occupying lease land in J&K, whether he is from Kashmir’s Gulmarg and Pahalgam or Jammu’s Patnitop or Reasi. Any auctioning under amended rules would have allowed the outsiders to participate in it. Compared to locals, outsiders would have more purchasing powers,” Mr. Sadiq told The Hindu.
During the voice vote, the Bill did not face any major resistance from the Opposition benches.
Under the rules introduced by the L-G in 2022, those occupants whose leases have ended were not renewed but were scheduled to put for a fresh auction. It also allowed the outsiders to participate in the auction for the first time in J&K. The eviction under the LG-introduced rules in 2022 was likely to impact popular tourist destinations of Srinagar, Jammu, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Patnitop etc. in J&K, where most hotels are built on lease land since the 1970s and 1980s.
Speaking outside the Assembly, J&K Peoples Conference (JKPC) legislator Sajad Lone termed the Bill as one that “primarily benefits the super elite while ignoring the poor”.
“The Bill pertains to some of the costliest real estate in Kashmir. It is aimed to help the super elite. The land involved could be worth tens of thousands of crores. What is in it for the poorest of the poor? Lakhs of families living on two or three marlas of land continue to face harassment. Don’t they deserve a bill?” said Mr. Lone.
BJP legislator and Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma also criticised the Bill. “It’s deeply unfortunate and amounted to a betrayal of trust. The mandate given by the people appears to be used not for public good but to protect a privileged few. The proposed legislation could pave the way for releasing large tracts of government land at low rates,” said Mr. Sharma. He said the government was patronising a select group of influential people instead of safeguarding public assets.
Another BJP legislator, Ranbir Singh Pathania, said, “The Bill strikes at the very core of the post-reorganisation legal order in the Union Territory. It is an attempt to reopen a framework that had been conclusively settled by Parliament through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The parliamentary supremacy cannot be diluted by a Private Member’s Bill seeking to unsettle an existing statutory regime.
Meanwhile, the J&K Assembly also admitted another Bill introduced by NC legislator Sajad Shaheen on establishment of a university campus at Banihal in District Ramban “to promote higher education, research, and socio-economic development in the region”.
Published – April 02, 2026 05:20 am IST
