The Jammu and Kashmir administration has on its website put up details of 0.9 acre of government land in Jammu that has been allegedly encroached by former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah for “residential” purpose.
The details of the property — Khasra no 4,5 and 6 in Sunjwan village of Bahu tehsil in Jammu district registered in the name of the Abdullahs, has been included in a list that says “encroached State land (physically encroached but not shown in revenue record) — Other than Roshni.”
The list published on Tuesday includes details of properties belonging to two other persons — Mushtaq Chaya, a businessman, and Ashfaq Mir, son of a retired judge.
The list comprising names of National Conference politicians Syed Akhoon, Aslam Goni, Haroon Chowdhary, Sujjad Kichloo, Abdul Majid Wani and M.Y Khan, former J&K Bank chairman, who are alleged to have encroached on government land in Sunjwan village, was published on Monday.
The “quantum of State land occupied illegally (physically) approx” by Abdullahs stands at 7 kanals (0.875 acres) and 7 marlas (0.043 acre). A senior government official claimed the land “encroached” by the former chief ministers is “forest land.”
The list of beneficiaries of the Roshni Act include Suraiya Mattoo, Farooq Abdullah’s sister. The list also claimed that Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan, the building housing the office of National Conference in Jammu, and the office of Nawai-Subah Trust of NC in Srinagar was also allotted under the Roshni Act.
The National Conference said in a statement that the “news attributing to sources that party President and MP Srinagar Dr. Farooq Abdullah is a beneficiary of the Roshni Scheme is completely false and is being spread with a malicious intent.”
“Dr Farooq Abdullah has NOT availed of the Roshni Scheme for either his residence in Srinagar or in Jammu and any one who says otherwise is lying. The fact that they are using sources to plant this story shows that it has no legs to stand on,” the statement said.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court in an order on October 9 had directed that details of “State land in unauthorised occupation” shall be disclosed on the government website. As reported by The Hindu on Monday, similar directions were also issued to publish the names of the beneficiaries under the Roshni Act that was scrapped by the High Court. The beneficiaries under the Act included former State ministers, retired civil servants and politicians.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the alleged scam where it is claimed that hundreds of acres of valuable forest and government land had been illegally occupied, usurped and encroached upon by influential politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and judicial functionaries all over J&K, under the Roshni Act that was passed in 2001.