Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to Occupants) Act, 2001 commonly known as Roshni Act was promulgated during Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's government in 2001. The law granted ownership of Jammu and Kashmir state lands to unauthorised occupants of those lands with the aim of raising money for power projects upon payment of a sum to be determined by the

Government of Jammu and Kashmir The Government of Jammu and Kashmir is the governing authority of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and its two divisions and 20 districts. Jammu and Kashmir is a union territory in India under the terms of Article 239A (wh ...

. The cut-off year was set as 1990 by the Government of Farooq Abdullah, which was extended to 2004 and again to 2007 by the PDP-

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

Government. The act got the unofficial name of "Roshni Act" from the J&K Government's said plan of using the funds raised from this to fund power projects in the state.

Report of irregularities and repeal of the act

In 2014

Comptroller and Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Fr ...

(CAG) had raised issues of irregularities and, in 2015, the State Vigilance Organisation had charged over 20 government officials with misuse of the act; no one was prosecuted. From 2015 onwards, efforts were made to get back some of the illegally acquired land. In 2018 the act was repealed during the tenure of the

Governor of Jammu and Kashmir The governor of Jammu and Kashmir was the head of the Indian state Jammu and Kashmir. When India became independent, Hari Singh was the Maharaja of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. Technically he remained so until 17 November 1952, al ...

Satya Pal Malik Satya Pal Malik (born 24 July 1946) is an Indian politician. Malik was the Governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, from August 2018 to October 2019, and it was during his tenure that the constitutional decision to abrogate Articl ...

who ordered the investigation to be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On 9 October 2020, following demands from

IkkJutt Jammu Ikkjutt Jammu (also stylised as IkkJutt Jammu) is a party based in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It advocates for the creation of a separate Jammu state out of the Dogri speaking districts of Jammu Division and for the reorgan ...

, the

Jammu and Kashmir High Court The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is the common high court for union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 March 1928 by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The s ...

deemed the law and all allotments made since the beginning as "null and void" and "unconstitutional". The court also said that the rules framed in 2007 by the Government of Ghulam Nabi Azad did not appear to have any legislative sanction. The state government has said that it will recover land distributed under the scheme in six months. All the identities of those who took advantage of the scheme were to be made public. On 22 October 2020, the administration of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory ordered the submission of comprehensive details of ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, police officers, government employees, businessmen, other influential persons and their relatives who have benefitted from the Act. On 24 November 2020, India's Union Law Minister

Ravi Shankar Prasad Ravi Shankar Prasad (born 30 August 1954) is an Indian politician and lawyer, from the Bharatiya Janata Party. A Member of Parliament since 2000, first in the Rajya Sabha (2000-2019) and then in the Lok Sabha (since 2019), Prasad has served as Un ...

in a press conference said that former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was among the beneficiaries in Roshni Act. The others in the list were the former Finance Minister of J&K

Haseeb Drabu Haseeb A Drabu (born 1961) is an Indian politician, economist and the former member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly from Rajpora Constituency in Pulwana district. He was elected as Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in BJP-PDP c ...

, Congress leader Majid Wani, former Home Minister and NC leader Sajjad Kitchloo and former JK Bank Chairman MY Khan.

Report of irregularities and repeal of the act

See also

References

Further reading