Kashmir's Land Ownership Trap

When compensation goes to the possessor but the legal owner is left unpaid, Kashmir's land records tell a troubling story of missed justice.

- Mohammad Amin Mir

Land tells complicated stories in Kashmir. It carries generations of names, often written neatly in old revenue records. But when the government comes calling to acquire land for highways or big infrastructure, the story sometimes takes a turn no one expects. The person who holds the land is often not the person who owns it.

Here is where the problem begins.

Take a common situation. The official land records, what we call the Jamabandi, show that Person A owns a piece of land. But the land has been in the hands of Person B for years. Maybe Person B has fenced it, maybe he has been growing crops there, maybe no one paid attention.

When the government starts acquisition proceedings, Person B steps forward with a simple affidavit. He says, “I am in possession.”

And often, that is all it takes. The compensation is paid to him in full.

Person A, the one whose name is officially in the records, is not informed. No notice is sent. No inquiry is made. There is no question in court. The compensation is gone, the government takes over the land, and the revenue officers prepare the mutation—the change in ownership records—without a second thought.

This is not how the law is supposed to work.

Under both the old Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and the newer law passed in 2013, the land is taken by the government in two steps. First, the ownership is acquired. Second, the compensation is paid to the rightful claimant.