Over 83,000 Non-State Subjects Granted Domicile In Jammu And Kashmir In Two Years

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government said that it has granted 83,742 domicile certificates to non-state subjects in the region during the past two years.

Replying to the question of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Waheed Ur Rehman Para, who had sought this data, the minister for revenue said that in the past two years, the government has issued 83,742 domicile certificates to non-state subjects in the union territory. The revenue portfolio is held by the chief minister, Omar Abdullah himself.

The non-locals were granted domicile rights after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the centre repealed articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019. Article 35A restricted outsiders from becoming domiciles or state subjects of the erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir. The region had state subject laws which were enacted by Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh in 1927 to restrict the rights of employment in government and land for non-state subjects.

Historians say the Maharaja enacted and enforced this law after demands by Kashmiri Pandits to restrict Punjabis from becoming state subjects of the erstwhile state.

However, these laws were repealed by the lieutenant governor-led administration in April 2020, paving the way for outsiders to become permanent residents of the union territory after fulfilling certain conditions under the new domicile rules.

In April 2020, the centre introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020, which changed the conditions for availing domicile rights in Jammu and Kashmir. This law allowed those outsiders who lived in the UT for 15 years or studied here for seven years to become domiciles, hence becoming eligible for land ownership and government employment.

Getting a domicile certificate was made simpler by the LG administration, as the Tehsildars have to issue it within a timeline of 15 days after applying it online. A penalty of Rs 50,000 is imposed on the revenue officer who denies or delays the correct application.

Political parties based in the Kashmir Valley, including the National Conference, PDP, and Peoples Conference, created an uproar in 2020 when the new laws were enforced in Jammu and Kashmir as the world was then grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. They argued that these new laws would change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir, which is a Muslim-majority UT in India.

Omar Abdullah, who was then in opposition, said about the new domicile rules that it was an insult to the injury of the people, as there were none of the promised protections.

“Talk about suspect timing. At a time when all our efforts & attention should be focused on the #COVID outbreak, the government slips in a new domicile law for J&K. Insult is heaped on injury when we see the law offers none of the protections that had been promised," Omar had said in April 2020.

These new domicile laws also granted citizenship rights in Jammu and Kashmir to thousands of persons belonging to West Pakistan who were living in Jammu as refugees, Valmikis, and women from Jammu and Kashmir marrying outside state subjects.

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