People of J&K Have Right to Decide Whether or Not to Sell Property, Says Jitendra Singh on New Land Laws

“If that was so, the Gupkar bungalows would have been the first to be taken over,” he told reporters here. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah lives in a bungalow on Gupkar Road in Srinagar.

“It is a matter of common sense that abrogation of Article-370 grants people across India the right to purchase property in Jammu and Kashmir, but it does not take away from the people their right to decide whether to sell the property or not and whom to sell,” Singh said. He said Gupkar Road is the most preferred site, and, therefore, before warning the people of Jammu to protect their land from being taken away by outsiders, the “so-called mainstream Kashmir-centric leaders” should guard their own bunglows. “The so-called mainstream Kashmir-centric leaders should first make sure to guard their own palatial bungalows constructed at one of India’s most picturesque locations by the side of Dal Lake on such a majestic scale that they could give a complex to the royal palaces of erstwhile princess,” the minister added. In a gazette notification, the Centre has omitted the phrase “permanent resident of the state” from Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act that deals with disposal of the land in the union territory, paving the way for people from outside Jammu and Kashmir to buy land in JK and Ladakh, over a year after the nullification of provisions under Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.