Facing evictions, Gulmarg hoteliers withdraw petitions ‘to settle issue with J&K Govt.’

Hoteliers successful Kashmir’s tourer hotspot of Gulmarg person withdrawn petitions challenging the evictions and caller auction of astir 52 structures, including 32 hotels and 20 huts, dispersed implicit 38 acres.

Senior lawyer Zaffar Shah pleaded earlier the J&K High Court to allow withdrawal of a artillery of petitions. A bench, comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal, has allowed the withdrawal, a hotelier told The Hindu connected the information of anonymity. The petitioners, the tribunal observed, intended “to attack the J&K authorities with representations to settee the dispute”.

Official sources said the J&K government, dissimilar the Lieutenant Governor administration, intended to signifier a committee to look into the lease issues and auctions. The L-G administration, contrary to the government’s position, advocated auctioning of lease properties and denying the existent occupants immoderate chance to beryllium successful the caller bid. 

Senior Additional Advocate General (AAG) Mohsin Qadri, who represented the L-G bureau successful the court, has extended the enactment to “fair, tenable and equitable solution”. 

This has ended a agelong ineligible conflict of the section hoteliers successful Kashmir who challenged caller rules framed by the L-G medication nether J&K Land Grant Rules successful 2022, which replaced the J&K Land Grants Rules-1960. The caller rules would person ended each the existent leases and disallowed the occupants from applying the successful caller auction. It adjacent projected to trim the lease play from 99 years to 40 years. The erstwhile barroom connected the outsiders to use for lease of onshore was besides removed successful the caller rules, which galore section hoteliers saw arsenic “an effort to regenerate local owners with bigwig outsiders”. 

In the meantime, ruling National Conference (NC) legislator Tanvir Sadiq has submitted a backstage member’s Bill earlier the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. It seeks the restoration and extortion of the archetypal Land Grants Act arsenic it existed anterior to the changes introduced successful 2022. The projected Bill is titled arsenic “The Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants (Restoration and Protection) Bill, 2025” and aims astatine repealing the Land Grant Rules 2022 notified during the Lieutenant Governor’s rule. 

“The Bill aims to revive the 1960 model that governed leases and grants of authorities onshore crossed the Union Territory,” Mr. Sadiq said.