34 people from across India have bought properties in J&K, since repeal of Article 370

Union minister Nityanand Rai on Tuesday told Parliament that thirty-four people across the country bought properties in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since the nullification of the Constitution’s Article 370. However, he did not provide details about the properties and owners. 

Last year the Centre informed that two people bought property in this region, earlier non-residents were barred from buying immovable properties in J&K. But the Centre has changed the properties rule in states,  and omitted the phrase “permanent resident of the state” from Section 17 of the J&K Development Act, which is connected with the land in the region, and allows outsiders to buy property. 

However, Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha in October 2020 stated that the new rules did not allow the transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists. “Agricultural land has been reserved for farmers and no outsider is going to come into that. We are identifying industrial areas and we surely want that industries come here like other states of the country so that this place is developed, and youths get jobs,’ Sinha had said.