Srinagar: A bill which restores the bar on non-residents from obtaining land on lease in Jammu and Kashmir was introduced in the legislative assembly on Wednesday (April 1) amid stiff opposition from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Peoples Democratic Party and (PDP) others.The ruling National Conference (NC) has touted the legislation as an attempt to reclaim land rights for local residents by reversing what the party has called a historic injustice inflicted upon the people of J&K after the erstwhile state was stripped of its special status, bifurcated and downgraded to two Union territories in 2019.The proposed legislation, brought by the NC legislator from Srinagar’s Zadibal constituency Tanvir Sadiq calls to “restore the J&K Land Grants Act 1960 and the rules formed there under to their original form as it existed prior to J&K Land Grants Rules 2022 to protect the rights of existing leases and occupants”.The bill titled “Amendments to the Land Grants Act” seeks to “ensure that public land serves the interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir”.The legislation would enable the government to renew the leases of the existing occupants of government land and other properties, particularly in the tourism sector, instead of mandating fresh auctions as laid down in the 2022 rules.“Provided that no such land shall be granted on lease to the person, who is not a permanent residence of the state; except where the Government for the reasons to be recorded relax this restriction in the interest of industrial or commercial development or in the favor of a registered charitable society established for non-political, non-profitable purpose or such registered institute of higher education,” the 1960 land act states.In the erstwhile state of J&K, thousands of land parcels have been leased out by successive governments to local residents for building hotels and doing other business.However, the 2022 rules struck down the power of the elected government to extend these leases.The new rules which impact Gulmarg, parts of Srinagar, Pahalgam, Patnitop and others have caused a lot of concern in Kashmir, especially in Gulmarg where out of 59 hotels, the leases of 55 have expired.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, were taken over by the government in the north Kashmir ski resort.According to new rules, these properties were to be put up for auction through open bidding for all the Indian citizens, prompting some of the affected hoteliers to approach the high court in 2022.However, the opposition has claimed that the new land bill which became the first to get the assent of the treasury benches at the time of the introduction will hamper the prospects of domestic and foreign investments in Jammu and Kashmir and stunt the development of the Union territory.Senior BJP leader Sunil Sharma said that Abdullah has a direct interest in seeing the passage of the bill to “protect” the “interests” of his family.He alleged that the chief minister’s personal property on the Gupkar Road in Srinagar and his relatives’ (Nedous) properties in Gulmarg as well as in Srinagar were built on leased land and the proposed legislation would benefit “a circle of influential, cocktail-circuit associates (of Abdullah)”.“The move seems to be setting the stage for re-leasing vast tracts of government land at throwaway prices – continuing a pattern that has persisted for decades. Instead of safeguarding public assets and ensuring justice for the marginalised, the government appears to be enabling and patronising a privileged few,” Sharma, who is campaigning for the party in Assam, said.Waheed Parra, the PDP legislator from Pulwama constituency in south Kashmir who brought his own land bill to the house that sought to grant ownership rights to individuals occupying land in J&K without legal entitlement also opposed the NC’s bill. His land bill was also rejected by the house earlier in the ongoing winter session.Former J&K minister and senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar said that by adopting a private members bill, the National Conference was trying to send a political message that it is the party which has introduced the legislation and not the government.“The bill will serve a very small group of elite families and hoteliers in Kashmir. There is nothing in it for the commoners,” said Akhtar, adding that Parra’s bill would have committed the government to ensure land for the landless.“If unauthorised constructions are legitimised as regularised colonies in Delhi, why is the government reluctant to adopt a similar system in J&K,” Akhtar said.Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone also opposed the bill, arguing that it would benefit the “super elite’ of Kashmir.However NC leader Sadiq, who brought the bill, said that the new legislation would provide legal sanctity to the landless people who have occupied government land without proper documentation. He however didn’t share a copy of the new bill with The Wire.“The opposition of the PDP and the BJP to my bill proves that they are two faces of the same coin,” he said.