L-G Sinha launches portal to redress Kashmiri Pandits property grievances

Srinagar, September 07: With the aim to ensure the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Union Territory, lieutenant governor (L-G) of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha launched an online portal for the Kashmiri migrants to lodge grievances regarding their properties in the Valley.

 

While launching the portal, LG said " Migrants whose Properties were encroached or were forced for distress sale in the 1990s can file complaints."

 

As per the info available on the portal, the portal enables the migrants to file any grievance connected to his/her immovable property or related to a Community Asset. The applications filed on the portal will be addressed in a fixed timeframe under the Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011 by the revenue authorities. The district magistrates, who are the competent authority, will have to undertake surveys or field verification of properties and update all registers within 15 days and submit a compliance report to the divisional commissioner.

 

 

 

In its trial period itself, 745 complaints were received on the portal, as compared to 113 grievances lodged between 2018-19 and 2020-21(July).

 

In 1997, the government of Jammu and Kashmir had brought in the J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection, and Restraint on Distress Sale) Act, 1997 for preventing distress sale of properties belonging to migrants who were forced to leave in the aftermath of terrorism in the Valley. As per the data, nearly 60,000 Kashmiri Pandits migrated from the valley during the turmoil, and the majority of these families preferred to settle at Jammu and its adjoining areas; whereas approximately 23000 such migrant families settled outside the J&K State.

 

 

Last month, the J&K administration ordered the full implementation of the Immovable Property Act for the Kashmiri Pandits. The lieutenant governor has directed the authorities to take action against anyone violating the J&K Migrant Immovable Property Act 1997. He had also ordered the authorities to conduct surveys and take stock of properties left behind by the migrants. This decision comes after the abrogation of Article 370.

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