‘Gair Mumkin Khad’ issue
*Seeks recommendations within three months
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 21: With three tiers of bureaucratic committees failing to make major headway on the “Gair Mumkin Khad” issue despite clear directions since January 2022, the Chief Minister has now constituted a Ministerial panel to examine the matter and report back within three months.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that following the Administrative Council Decision No.17/1/2022 dated January 29, 2022, regarding delineation and demarcation of “Ghar Mumkin Khad/Darya/Nullah”, it was expected that people suffering due to erroneous or misleading entries of such water bodies in their revenue records would finally heave a sigh of relief and that owners of such lands would be able to transact and undertake various economic or non-economic activities as per land use prescribed under the Master Plan.
People were ecstatic about the resolution of this long-pending issue, especially after the Revenue Department, vide Government Order No.18-JK dated February 4, 2022, formally constituted District, Divisional and UT-Level Committees and laid down the procedure and terms of reference for each.
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These committees were tasked with delineating and demarcating land that does not form part of any watercourse or source but has nevertheless been recorded in the revenue records as “Gair Mumkin Khad”, “Gair Mumkin Darya”, “Gair Mumkin Nullah” etc.
Timelines for the completion of the demarcation and delineation exercise were also fixed. For the districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua, a three-month timeframe was set. In the remaining districts, municipal areas, commercial areas, industrial areas, key project areas and areas under the Master Plan were to be completed within six months, while the remaining rural areas of these districts were given a 12-month timeframe.
The Divisional Level Committees were tasked with supervising and monitoring the District Level Committees, keeping track of the progress of surveys and delineation on a fortnightly basis. Similarly, the UT Level Committee was required to monitor the progress of the subordinate committees on a monthly basis and to formulate a comprehensive proposal for necessary corrections in the revenue records.
“For more than two years, there was no significant progress in the delineation and demarcation of “Gair Mumkin Khad”, Gair Mumkin Darya” and Gair Mumkin Nullah”. When reasons for the delay were sought, the District and Divisional Level Committees flagged certain issues that should have been brought to the notice of higher authorities within a few months of the issuance of the detailed order by the Revenue Department”, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
This prompted the Administrative Council to revise the policy through Decision No. 98/06/2024 dated July 25, 2024. Under the new framework, the procedure was decentralized, empowering Deputy Commissioners to carry out delineation based on District Level Committee recommendations, regardless of the size of the State land.
For private lands, Deputy Commissioners were authorized to delineate up to 200 kanals per Khasra on the recommendation of the District Level Committee, while the Divisional Level Committee and Divisional Commissioner were empowered to delineate 200 to 500 kanals per Khasra. All other proposals were to be approved by the UT Level Committee.
It was also decided that the process would be conducted using modern and scientific technologies, including Digital Elevation Models, Digital Terrain Models and Hydrological/Hydraulic Modeling.
“However, even after the simplification of the earlier procedure, no substantial progress was made by the District and Divisional Level Committees, leaving the sufferings of the people unaddressed,” sources said, revealing that the majority of cases recommended by these committees pertained to lands recorded as State property, while lands recorded as privately owned were largely ignored on one pretext or another.
“Due to this, what began as a time-bound exercise to delineate and demarcate ”Gair Mumkin Khad” etc has turned into a textbook case of official apathy”, sources further said, adding “during the past few months the political Government headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was receiving numerous complaints from the private landowners”.
Now, the General Administration Department, on the directions of the Chief Minister, has constituted a committee comprising Deputy Chief Minister, Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Ministers Javed Ahmad Dar and Javed Ahmed Rana. The committee, which will be serviced by the Jal Shakti Department, has been asked to submit recommendations within a period of three months.
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