CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami moves Supreme Court against law permitting non-residents to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir

CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has moved the Supreme Court challenging the amendments made by the Central government to land laws in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) which has opened the doors for anyone from any part of the country to buy land in J&K including agricultural land. .Tarigami has challenged the amendments by way of an application in a writ petition filed by him in 2019 assailing the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution and reconstituting J&K into a Union Territory. The application challenging the change in land laws has contended that the amendments are illegal since "the powers to make such laws are derived by the Central Government from the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 which in itself is unconstitutional.".The Union Home Ministry had issued a notification on October 20, 2020 amending the J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996 and the J&K Development Act, 1970 by introducing various new provisions in these two statutes. .The application filed through advocate, PV Dinesh, points out that the changes prohibits the sale of agricultural land to a non-agriculturist, yet authorizes the government or an officer appointed by it to “grant permission to an agriculturist to alienate the land to a non-agriculturist by way of sale, gift, exchange or mortgage or for such agreement on such conditions as may be prescribed”..The new provisions will also allow any non-resident, even people from outside J&K, to buy agricultural land and to use it for commercial purpose with the permission of the government..The plea states that the restriction placed by the erstwhile law to not change the nature of the land from ‘agricultural’ to ‘non-agricultural’ and to disallow non-permanent residents to acquire the agricultural land was aimed at protecting the large swathes of farm land, that provide life blood to the people of J&K, from commercialization.."The notification dated October 26, 2020 is illegal as the same is issued in pursuance to the powers accorded to the Central Government under Section 96 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 as the said statute itself is unconstitutional, void, unsustainable and therefore liable to be struck down," reads the petition..Tarigami has sought a stay on the October 26 order of the government states that if "decommissioning or de0operationalizing of the Articles 370 and 35A are unconstitutional", then the amendments and changes sought to be made are also unconstitutional.