Army has not paid rent for around 224 kanals of land it occupies in village Chatha of Satwari tehsil in Jammu district for the past 37 years.
The agricultural land at Chatha village, located 6 kms south of the district headquarters Jammu, was occupied by army in 1978. According to the government, army has never been paid the rent for the land despite repeated reminders.Officials said the matter has been taken up with army “and they have been asked to pay the dues as soon as possible”.
“The army is not releasing the rent of 224 kanals of land in Chatha village of Jammu, a huge amount is due since 1978 which has not been paid so far despite repeated requests,” they told.
The officials said a committee constituted by General Administration Department (GAD), vide order number 793-GAD of 2013 dated May 23 2013, has been asked by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to finalize its recommendations for consideration of state government.
“Chief Minister has now asked army to make payments, compensations to the rightful claimants from the effective date,” officials said on the condition of anonymity.
The affected families had time and again raised the issue with the state government. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears.
The officials said the land produced good agricultural yield before 1978. “But once the army occupied it, it was never given back to locals and neither was the rent and compensation ever paid.”
Large swathes of land, including agricultural fields, were occupied by army to set up camps after the eruption of militancy in Kashmir. Separatist parties and human rights groups have been demanding demilitarization.
In order to resolve the dispute with army, government constituted a committee to examine records of the agreement between President of India and Jammu and Kashmir regarding State assets in 2013.
The five-member committee headed by Chief Secretary as the chairperson comprised of two Divisional Commissioners, Secretary Revenue and Principal Director Defence Estate. The panel was asked to examine records of the agreement dated 10-01-1956 and submit its report to the government within a period of 15 days.
