SRINAGAR: The Union Territory of Ladakh has approved new rules to regularise long-pending Nautor land holdings, allowing eligible occupants to secure proprietary rights over up to 10 acres, in a move aimed at providing legal certainty to thousands of landholders and safeguarding government and council land from encroachment.
Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Friday approved the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Nautor Regularisation) Rules, 2026, establishing a uniform framework for regularisation across all seven districts of Ladakh.
Under the rules, eligible occupants may be granted proprietary rights over up to 10 acres of Nautor land. Holdings exceeding the 10-acre ceiling may be allotted on a leasehold basis, subject to the prescribed conditions. The rules provide a one-time mechanism for regularising eligible occupation that existed before October 27, 2020, the date on which the Jammu and Kashmir Tenancy Act, 1980, was repealed. Occupation established after that cut-off date will not qualify for regularisation.
Nautor land refers to barren or wasteland owned by the government that was historically allotted to individuals for cultivation or other productive purposes. More than 60,000 acres of land across Ladakh is currently recorded as Nautor holdings in revenue records.
The new framework vests the authority to allot Nautor land in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) across all seven districts. The rules cite Section 42 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, under which land within a district stands transferred to the Council, while Section 23(i) provides the Councils with executive powers relating to the allotment, use and occupation of land vested in them.
For proprietary rights up to 10 acres, the amount payable will be linked to the market rate notified by the Administration for the relevant revenue village. For Nautor land exceeding 10 acres allotted on leasehold, the premium will be 80 per cent of the notified market rate.
The rules make field verification mandatory for Gair Mustaqil holdings. Revenue authorities will have to verify the identity of the occupant, the area under occupation, the nature and extent of cultivation, the date of possession and whether the occupation pre-dates the October 27, 2020 cut-off. For Mustaqil holdings, the respective LAHDC will determine whether field verification is necessary based on ground realities.
Abandoned land and land found to have been encroached upon will not qualify for allotment and may be subject to eviction. Nautor land mutated before the cut-off date where a change in land use has occurred may also be considered for regularisation, provided the change in land use is formally approved by the competent authority.
The rules also allow regularised land to be mortgaged with Scheduled Banks, financial institutions and government-backed lending agencies for land development. In municipal, planning and other notified areas, including areas covered by Master Plans, Zonal Plans or Development Authorities, land use will have to comply with applicable planning regulations.
The Administration said the absence of a clear and uniform legal framework had restricted the effective use of Nautor land and left holders with limited or non-proprietary rights unable to use their holdings as financial assets, including for securing loans. The lack of uniform procedures had also created scope for competing claims and disputes involving government and Council land.
Saxena said the rules would provide legal certainty to genuine Nautor landholders while introducing greater transparency and accountability into the regularisation process.
“The Nautor issue has a deep historical connection with the lives and livelihoods of the people of Ladakh,” Saxena said, noting that generations of residents had brought barren and wasteland under cultivation in difficult agricultural conditions.
The rules will now be placed in the public domain for a two-week consultation before their final notification.
All allotments and regularisations will remain subject to periodic review and audit. The rules provide for cancellation or resumption of land in cases involving violations, misrepresentation, concealment of facts, non-utilisation, unauthorised transfer or breach of prescribed conditions.
