Displaced persons from PoJK granted land ownership rights in J&K: Govt

Srinagar : The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Friday said that displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) who settled in the Union Territory decades ago have been granted ownership rights over the land allotted to them.

In a written reply to a question by a legislator, the Revenue Department, per news agency said that displaced persons of 1947, 1965, and 1971 have already received ownership rights under various government orders and acts.

The department said the government has taken multiple steps over the years to regularize refugee colonies and confer proprietary rights, citing key decisions including Cabinet Order No. 578-C of 1954, the Agrarian Reforms Act of 1976, and orders issued in 1966 and 2024.

It said families were allotted evacuee land, state land, and residential quarters under prescribed rules, and the ceiling limits were revised in later years to benefit more families.

It also said recent orders issued in 2024 provide for the transfer of evacuee land and full proprietary rights to displaced persons, including West Pakistan Displaced Persons, who have maintained continuous recorded possession over their allotted land.

“Awareness camps are organized and case files of eligible beneficiaries are prepared on fast-track basis and no one is denied such benefits,” it said.

The department said that the administration is in the final phase of granting complete ownership rights to displaced families settled across J&K.—(KNO)