Srinagar: The government on Thursday said that around 5000 kanla Custodian land had been retrieved across Kashmir in the last two years and that the people whose property was being illegally occupied by the land grabbers should approach the department to take a due course in this regard.
Custodian Evacuee Property Department, Kashmir, Tariq Hussain Naik said that the department had been putting every effort to identify the Custodian land that had been notified years ago.
“We have been working for the last two years to ascertain how much land is notified and how much land is in the records in the Revenue Department. Almost 80 percent of our reconciliation has been completed with the Revenue Department so far,” he said.
Naik said that, so far, the department had been able to retrieve around 5000 kanal Custodian land in different districts across Kashmir.
He said that there was a misconception and to end it, people should know that the Custodian land was private property.
“We are retrieving the land and the process under Evacuee Act is being followed. If a property is notified once, it will remain so until and unless somebody claims the land through proper procedure,” Naik said.
Stating that the retrieval of the Custodian land at present was not new but a continuous process, he said that nobody would be displaced or disturbed anywhere.
“As per the procedure, if a structure is being raised anywhere illegally on the Custodian land, we demolish it, but if a structure has already been raised years ago, then we have a provision for that and we will have to notify it following which the rent is being fixed,” Naik said.
He said that if the land of any person had been grabbed illegally by anyone, he or she should approach the department and a due course would be taken as per the provision of the act to restore the property under Section 14 of the Evacuee Property Act.