Long-pending ‘Gair Mumkin Khad’ issue
*MoU still not signed to start delineation exercise
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 24: Though the three-month deadline expired on December 15, 2025, the Sub-Committee comprising three Ministers has not submitted its recommendations to the Government to break the logjam over the long-pending “Gair Mumkin Khads” issue. Moreover, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of India agencies is yet to be signed to start the much-needed delineation exercise.
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As per the decision taken by the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in July 2025, the General Administration Department, vide Government Order dated September 15, 2025, constituted a Sub-Committee comprising Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and Ministers Javid Ahmad Dar and Javed Ahmad Rana to examine the issues relating to “Gair Mumkin Khads”.
It was specifically mentioned in the order that the committee shall submit its recommendations within three months from the date of issuance of the order.
“Though the committee has held a few meetings and deliberated upon the issue, it has not submitted its recommendations to the Government till date, although the three-month deadline expired on December 15, 2025”, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
In its meeting held on December 24, 2025, the committee was briefed by officers about the challenges associated with the identification, protection and management of “Gair Mumkin Khads”. The committee also discussed in detail the existing status of “Gair Mumkin Khads”, “Daryas” and “Nallahs”, along with related concerns, with the objective of providing relief to the general public wherever required.
The committee stressed that policy interventions must strike a balance between environmental protection and safeguarding the livelihoods and property rights of citizens. Finally, the Deputy Chief Minister called for sensitisation of all stakeholders and directed proper scientific mapping of “Gair Mumkin Khads”, “Nallahs” and adjacent non-cultivable waste lands.
“Till date, the recommendations have not been concretised by the committee, what to talk of submission of the same to the Government,” sources informed, while expressing inability to specify any time-frame for submission of the final report/recommendations, as was desired by the Government in the order dated September 15, 2025.
The committee was tasked with examining the matter afresh after three tiers of bureaucratic committees failed to make meaningful headway despite clear directions since January 2022. “However, more than a month after the stipulated deadline, the panel has yet to submit its recommendations, further deepening public frustration”, sources said.
Further, no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Survey of India, the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) and the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, to start delineation/demarcation of land which does not form part of any watercourse/source but has been recorded as “Gair Mumkin Khad”, “Gair Mumkin Darya”, “Gair Mumkin Nullah”, etc., in the revenue records.
“This agreement is imperative for initiating and completing the delineation and demarcation exercise in a scientific, transparent and time-bound manner”, sources said, pointing out that the MoU requirement was brought into the public domain as early as March 2025 and reiterated again in October 2025, yet no progress has been made till date.
“Without this MoU, the use of Digital Elevation Models, Digital Terrain Models and hydrological/hydraulic modeling mandated under the revised policy remains only on paper”, they remarked.
It is pertinent to mention here that only after completion of the delineation process can correction of revenue records be undertaken and relevant rules applied to make such land usable as per prescribed norms.
For thousands of landowners whose properties remain wrongly classified as “Gair Mumkin Khad”, etc, the delay means continued restrictions on transactions, construction and economic activity, despite repeated assurances from the Government since 2022.
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