J&K Assembly admits Bill on reversing amendments made to Land Grants Act by L-G in 2022

The J&K Assembly on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, passed a Bill by the Lieutenant Governor in 2022 aimed at reversing the amendments made to the 1960 Land Grant Act, which threatens permanent eviction of local leaseholders from government lands and hotels across the region, especially in tourist places like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Patnitop.

While the bill was coming to Parliament, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “The Government wants the Parliament to deliberate on the issue in detail. After that, the Government will take a decision on whether to support this bill or not. Therefore, I will not oppose the introduction of the bill at this stage.”

The bill was then allowed to be introduced by voice vote. Ruling National Conference (NC) legislator Tanvir Ali Sadiq had filed the bill titled J&K Land Grants (Restoration and Conservation) Bill, 2025 as a private member bill. It aims to restore the rules framed under the Land Grants Act, 1960, to their original form under the “J&K Land Grants Act, as before 2022” introduced by the LG.

“This will give legal sanctity to those who legally occupy leased land in J&K, be it from Kashmir’s Gulmarg and Pahalgam or Jammu’s Patnitop or Reasi. Any auction under the amended rules would allow outsiders to participate in it. Compared to locals, outsiders will have more purchasing power,” Mr. Sadiq said. Hindu.

During the voice vote the Bill did not encounter any major resistance from the Opposition benches.

Under the rules introduced by LG in 2022, residents whose leases have expired will not be renewed but will be put up for a new auction. It also allowed outsiders to participate in the auction for the first time in J&K. The eviction under the rules imposed by the LG in 2022 is expected to be in Srinagar, Jammu, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Patnitop etc. in J&K, where most hotels have been built on leased land since the 1970s and 1980s. It is likely to affect popular tourist destinations such as

Speaking outside the Assembly, J&K People’s Conference (JKPC) legislator Sajad Lone described the bill as a law that “primarily benefits the super elite while ignoring the poor”.

“The bill deals with some of the most expensive real estate in Kashmir. It is aimed at helping the super elite. The land in question could be worth tens of thousands of crores. What good does it do for the poorest of the poor? Hundreds of thousands of families living on two or three large estates continue to face harassment. Don’t they deserve a bill?” said Mr. Lone.

BJP legislator and Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma also criticized the bill. “This is extremely unfortunate and amounts to a betrayal of trust. The power given by the people appears to be being used not for the public good but to protect a privileged few. The proposed law could pave the way for large tracts of state land to be released at low rates,” Mr. Sharma said. He said the government was patronizing a select group of influential people instead of protecting public assets.

Another BJP legislator Ranbir Singh Pathania said: “The Bill strikes at the very heart of the post-reorganization legal order in the Union Territory. It is an attempt to reopen a framework firmly decided by Parliament through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. The supremacy of Parliament cannot be diluted by a Private Member’s Bill that seeks to disrupt an existing legal regime.”

Meanwhile, the J&K Assembly also passed another bill by NC legislator Sajad Shaheen for setting up a university campus at Banihal in Ramban District “to promote higher education, research and socio-economic development in the region”.