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    Government notifies new rules that allow any Indian citizen to buy land in Jammu & Kashmir

    Synopsis

    Before repeal of Article 370 and Article 35-A in August last year, non-residents could not buy any immovable property in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the fresh changes have paved the way for non-residents to buy land in the union territory. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha told reporters that the amendments did not allow transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists.

    Centre notifies land law, allows every Indian to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh
    New Delhi: The Centre has paved the way for any Indian citizen to buy land and property in Jammu and Kashmir, which completes one year of being designated a Union Territory on October 31. The Union home ministry said in an order that the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 has been notified in the UT while 12 laws of the erstwhile state have been repealed.

    The Act makes it mandatory for each state and UT to set up its own real estate regulator and frame rules to govern the functioning of the regulator. In a gazette notification, the Centre omitted the phrase “permanent resident of the state” from Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, which deals with disposal of the land in the UT.

    “With immediate effect, the Acts mentioned in the schedule to this order shall, until repealed or amended by a competent legislature or other competent authority, have an effect, subject to the adaptations and modifications directed by the said schedule, or if it is so directed, shall stand repealed,” said the order.

    On August 5 last year, the Centre had abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to the erstwhile state, bifurcating it into UTs of J&K and Ladakh. Earlier, Article 35A prohibited citizens from other parts of India from buying land in J&K. It allowed the J&K legislature to define permanent residents of the state and only those who were eligible could purchase land or property.

    As per section 96 of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Centre has the powers to repeal or amend the laws for the application of any law made before the appointed date till the expiration of one year from the appointed date in relation to Union Territories.

    Earlier, the laws passed by Parliament were applicable to the state only after the state government gave its concurrence due to its special status and separate Constitution. The J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, extended 113 central laws including Muslim Women Protection of Rights Act, 1986, RTI Act, PC Act, Aadhaar Act, Enemy Property Act, Evidence Act, Special Marriage Act, Delimitation Act and Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act to J&K. A total of 165 laws exclusively framed for the state of Jammu and Kashmir were repealed.

    In another order issued on Tuesday, the Union home ministry repealed and amended 25 other central laws including the Stamp Act, 1977, Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment Act.


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