The Jammu & Kashmir Evacuees’ Property Department, responsible for managing partition-era properties, faces concerns over stagnation in its operations despite recent attempts at modernization.
The department oversees properties left behind during the 1947 partition and launched an online portal to streamline processes and improve transparency in managing evacuee properties across the Union Territory.
The portal aims to enable efficient data management and facilitate record updates.
However, many stakeholders express frustration. Those with leased properties claim they experience prolonged bureaucratic delays regarding requests for lease renewals, transfer rights, and registration updates. Complaints highlight a complete standstill in issuing transfer rights to long-term lessees, preventing them from establishing ownership or making recognized changes to their holdings.
Many leaseholders report an uncertain future, lacking access to documentation updates that could secure their rights or facilitate property transactions. Sources close to the department indicate that structural and procedural bottlenecks have hindered progress despite the digital initiative.
“With no clear pathway for transfer or lease amendments, we are left in a bind,” said a long-term lessee, describing a sense of uncertainty. Stakeholders demand that the department expedite registration and transfer procedures to provide leaseholders with security over their rights and bring clarity to the management of evacuee properties.
Notably, a policy introduced in 2010 by the previous State Government helped the department generate revenue and clarify leaseholding rights, but it has been effectively made defunct for the past five years without formal order. Reviving this policy could aid the department in generating revenue and addressing issues faced by leaseholders.
Calls for streamlining processes, simplifying workflows, and addressing backlog issues are central to stakeholders’ demands. A strategic response to these challenges could revitalize the department’s operations and fulfill its responsibilities in property administration.(KNS).
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