J&K Assembly admits Bill on reversing amendments made to Land Grants Act by L-G in 2022

J&K Assembly admits a Bill to reverse 2022 Land Grants Act amendments, sparking debate on local land rights and tourism.

The J&K Assembly on Wednesday (April 1, 2026) admitted a Bill aimed at reversing the amendments made to the Land Grants Act 1960 by the Lieutenant Governor in 2022, which posed a threat of permanent eviction of local lease holders from government land and hotels across the region, especially in tourist places of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Patnitop.  

As the Bill came up before the House, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “The Government would like the House to deliberate on the matter in detail. After that, the Government will take a decision on whether to support this Bill or not. Therefore, at this stage, I will not oppose its introduction.”

The Bill was subsequently allowed to be introduced through a voice vote. Ruling National Conference (NC) legislator Tanvir Ali Sadiq had introduced the Bill, titled J&K Land Grants (Restoration and Protection) Bill, 2025, as a private member bill. It aims to restore the rules framed in 1960 under Land Grants Act to the original form, “as it existed prior to the J&K Land Grants Act, 2022”, which was introduced by the LG.

“It will give a legal sanctity to those who are legally occupying lease land in J&K, whether he is from Kashmir’s Gulmarg and Pahalgam or Jammu’s Patnitop or Reasi. Any auctioning under amended rules would have allowed the outsiders to participate in it. Compared to locals, outsiders would have more purchasing powers,” Mr. Sadiq told The Hindu.  

During the voice vote, the Bill did not face any major resistance from the Opposition benches.  

Under the rules introduced by the L-G in 2022, those occupants whose leases have ended were not renewed but were scheduled to put for a fresh auction. It also allowed the outsiders to participate in the auction for the first time in J&K. The eviction under the LG-introduced rules in 2022 was likely to impact popular tourist destinations of Srinagar, Jammu, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Patnitop etc. in J&K, where most hotels are built on lease land since the 1970s and 1980s.