JAMMU: PDP’s lawmaker Waheed Ur Rehman Parra has introduced a private member’s bill in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seeking to protect land rights of the region’s people through a framework that would curb arbitrary evictions, recognise traditional land ownership, and limit concentration of landholding.
Titled the Jammu and Kashmir Land Rights Bill, 2024, the draft legislation lays down a rights-based approach to land ownership, use, and redistribution, rooted in legal safeguards and environmental considerations. The bill aims to ensure that both individuals and communities, particularly in rural and tribal areas, are protected from displacement and have a say in how land is acquired or developed.
One of the features of the bill is its explicit prohibition on forced or arbitrary evictions. Parra’s proposal mandates that no person or community may be displaced without due legal process, including prior notice, fair compensation, and rehabilitation in line with established national and international norms. This comes in the wake of public concern over recent land retrieval drives, which opposition parties have criticised as being unjust and aggressive.
The bill also proposes legal recognition of customary and traditional forms of land ownership. This could benefit tribal communities and rural populations whose tenure rights are often not formally recorded, despite generations of occupation and cultivation.
To prevent concentration of land in the hands of a few, Parra’s bill introduces land ceiling provisions and outlines a mechanism for redistributing excess land to landless individuals and marginalised communities. In a similar vein, the legislation seeks to protect tenants and sharecroppers by guaranteeing them fair rent, security of tenure, and protection from eviction.
The draft legislation significantly restricts the state’s power to acquire land, stipulating that any such acquisition must be for a clearly defined public purpose and must involve consultation with affected persons and communities. Compensation, it adds, must be “just, fair and equitable” and accompanied by rehabilitation measures.
Environmental concerns also feature in the bill. It proposes safeguards to ensure that land use remains ecologically sustainable and that common lands and environmentally sensitive areas are preserved.
Further, the bill calls for the digitisation and modernisation of land records, transparency in land transactions, and the establishment of fast-track grievance redressal mechanisms.
While private members’ bills rarely become law, they often serve as vehicles for policy debate. Parra, who has been vocal about the need for democratic safeguards and civil liberties in Jammu and Kashmir, described the bill as an attempt to give “constitutional protection” to people’s rights over land. “This is about dignity, about making sure that our people are not treated as encroachers in their own homeland,” he said while introducing the bill.
Whether the bill will see discussion in the House or be taken up by the government remains to be seen. But for now, it stands as a political and legislative marker in the broader debate over land, rights, and governance in post-Article 370 Jammu and Kashmir.
