KV Network

The darkness called Roshni

The darkness called Roshni
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It should have been called the mother of all scams given the loot that was resorted to. However, despite the lapse of so many years now, the Roshini scheme, as it was called is yet to draw any conclusions.

Even the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has once again deferred the hearing wherein it was to be dcided as to why the case should not be handed over to the CBI for full investigations.

Last month, the High Court had expressed shock over the manner in which those responsible for the encroachment of the state land had become landowners due to the Roshni scheme.

What is worrying is that the officials the Revenue, Education and Divisional Commissioner’s office in Jammu, PCCF and the DDC Jammu were not able to file the status report as directed by the High court.

Earlier, the Division Bench had directed the state government to submit the list of all beneficiaries of the controversial Roshni scheme, already scrapped by the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by the then Governor Satya Pal Malik following complaints of large-scale bungling.

Notably, the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Satya Pal Malik then had approved the repeal of the Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, (commonly known as Roshni scheme).

By rescinding the act, all pending proceedings under the Act shall stand cancelled immediately and abate. However, the SAC directed that any action taken under the provisions of the repealed Act shall not be invalid. The Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 was enacted in the year 2001 with the twin objective of generating resources for financing power projects and conferment of proprietary rights to the occupants of the State Land.

The Act popularly called as Roshni Scheme was believed to be a revolutionary step in the annals of history in Jammu and Kashmir after the Agrarian Reforms Act.  It was hoped that the legislation would help to boost the farming sector and in turn generate substantial revenue for funding power projects across the State.  The rules under the Act were also notified. The Scheme initially envisaged conferment of proprietary rights of around 20.55 lakh Kanals to the occupants of which only 15.85% land was approved for vesting of ownership rights. Against the expected/anticipated revenue from such occupants, the revenue actually generated has been meager thereby failing to realize the objective of the Scheme.  There have also been reports about the misuse of some provisions of legislation.

However, the way the scheme was rolled out and executed it seemed that it was a well planned and organised loot. The Roshini scheme involved the biggest ever land scam in Jammu and Kashmir, with the State losing about Rs 25000 crore.

The scheme turned out to be a total flop as against the expected Rs 25000 crore revenue, the government recovered less than Rs 100 crore. The projected revenue estimates were made in Nov 2006 against Rs 20 lakh Kanal land identified for vesting ownership rights, but these were never realised. The HC should immediately take a call and let the matter be probed thoroughly so that the culprits do not escape the law.


KV Network

Kashmir Vision cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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