Srinagar: Two non-locals from northern states of New Delhi and Punjab have bought land in Jammu district following abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in August 2019, reports said Tuesday.
However, no non-J&K resident has purchased any property in Kashmir Valley over these two years, a local news agency KDC reported.
According to the report, Neelam Gupta and Prashant Gupta of New Delhi have bought one kanal land in Channi, Himmat in Jammu, while Bindu Verma and Veena Saraf, residents of Punjab have bought one kanal land in Channi Biji in Jammu district. The land had been registered in their names in January this year.
The owners who have sold the land to the two non-locals are residents of Jammu and Katra, the report said.
As per the documents, these two non-locals are the outsiders are the only non-residents who have applied for purchasing properties in Jammu and Kashmir since abrogation of Article 370.
Early this month, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed Lok Sabha that only two persons have purchased as many properties in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019.
“As per the information provided by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, two persons from outside Jammu and Kashmir have purchased two properties in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir since August, 2019,” he said.
The central government had abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5, 2019 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.
Since the abrogation of special status, the administration has formulated a new definition of domicile for Jammu and Kashmir.
According to that definition, a person residing there for at least 15 years will be eligible to be a permanent resident of the UT.
The government notification also extended domicile rights to central government employees who have served in the state for 10 years and also to their children.
Before August 5, 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir assembly was constitutionally empowered to define a resident of the erstwhile state.
These defined residents were alone eligible to apply for jobs or own immovable property.
However, the home ministry amended a 2010 legislation — the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment Act) — last year by substituting the term “permanent residents” with “domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir”.
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