According to the government, applications filed on the portal will be addressed in a fixed timeframe under the Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011 by the revenue authorities
The lieutenant governor (L-G) of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha on Tuesday launched an online portal (http://jkmigrantrelief.nic.in) for the registration of complaints by Kashmiri migrants about distress sale, encroachment or other grievances regarding property in the union territory.
According to the government, applications filed on the portal will be addressed in a fixed timeframe under the Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011 by the revenue authorities. The district magistrates, who are the competent authority, will have to undertake surveys or field verification of properties and update all registers within a period of 15 days and submit a compliance report to the divisional commissioner.
In 1997, the government of Jammu and Kashmir had brought in the J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sale) Act, 1997 for preventing distress sale of properties belonging to migrants who were forced to leave in the aftermath of terrorism in the Valley. The services through the portal will be applicable to all migrants irrespective of their faith.
As per government data, 44,167 families are officially registered as Kashmiri migrant families. Those who are not registered as Kashmiri migrants but have fled from the Valley are also eligible to register their complaints on the portal, said a government official.
“Following complaints that despite the provisions of the Act, little has been done by way of restoring rights or preventing distress sales, the government has decided to launch the portal to allow all those who migrated to lodge their complaints and these will be addressed in a time bound manner,” said the official.
Any violation of the Act will be taken cognizance of by the district magistrates with timely action for eviction, custody and restoration of such properties, the official said.