Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government has agreed to pursue administrative arbitration for settling the dispute over the new land lease rules in the Union Territory which has triggered a political uproar.The new rules had put dozens of hoteliers at the risk of eviction amid allegations by regional political parties that the Union government led by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was planning to lease out the hotels in north Kashmir’s Gulmarg ski resort to outsiders.In an order on March 3, a division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and justice Rajnesh Oswal allowed the withdrawal of a batch of petitions challenging the new rules under which the practice of extending land leases after their expiry was discontinued.The high court’s decision came after senior advocate Zafar Ahmad Shah submitted that the petitioners be permitted to withdraw their case due to “peculiarity of facts and circumstances”. Senior additional advocate general Mohsin Qadri, on instructions, informed the court that the government was “not averse to any fair, equitable and viable solution” to the dispute outside the court.“In the wake of the position sketched out above and in terms of the statement made by learned counsel for the respective parties, we are not required to delve any further into the merits. Accordingly, all these petitions are disposed of in the above terms,” the court said.The court, however, observed: “We had heard these petitions at length on numerous occasions and invested considerable judicial time to take the matter to its logical end. And but for the changed position that has emerged before the Court, possibly we would have concluded the proceedings today itself”.Thousands of land parcels have been leased out in Jammu and Kashmir to private individuals for building hotels and doing other business. The elected governments in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir followed the practice of extending land lease agreements. However, the situation changed in the years after Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated and demoted into a Union Territory in 2019 following which the court asked the administration to frame new land lease rules.In 2022, Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha’s administration introduced the controversial J&K Land Grant Rules which discontinued the practice of extending lease agreements besides making other changes.The new rules which affect Gulmarg, parts of Srinagar, Pahalgam, Patnitop and others involved in the hospitality sector made the incumbent leaseholders “illegal occupants”.According to rules, these properties were to be put up for auction through open bidding for all the Indian citizens.The regional political parties including the ruling National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have accused the administration of changing the rules with the aim of leasing out the properties in Gulmarg and other places of J&K to outsiders. The new rules also triggered a wave of anxiety and concern in Kashmir’s tourism sector which provides employment to hundreds of thousands of people, prompting some of the affected hoteliers to approach the high court in 2022. According to reports, out of 59 hotels in Gulmarg, the leases of 55 have expired, leading the Gulmarg Development Authority, a nodal government body which manages the ski resort, to launch an eviction drive last year, even though the court was seized of the matter. At least two properties including the 137-year-old heritage hotel Nedous, whose last lease holders are relatives of the J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, have been taken over by the government in the north Kashmir ski resort.The ruling NC welcomed the government’s stand in the high court on the dispute. Imran Nabi Dar, a ruling party spokesperson, said that the hoteliers should have extended their lease agreements when their earlier leases had expired. According to reports, the land lease agreements of some hotels in Gulmarg which have been affected by the 2022 rules have expired many years back. “I think the [elected] government wants the hoteliers to do a course correction. Overall, the idea is to ensure that the hotel Industry should not be punished as was done under the LG administration,” Dar said. Despite the government’s willingness to go for arbitration, the hoteliers in Gulmarg who are facing eviction remain guarded in their response and the state’s position before the high court has done little to ease their anxiety. Mushtaq Chaya, chairman of the Mushtaq Group of Hotels and the most prominent face of J&K’s hospitality sector, said that the government’s willingness to go for an out-of-court settlement will build goodwill. “But it should translate into action on the ground and the present occupants of these properties should be allowed to continue their businesses,” Chaya said.