J&K Govt in 2014 wrongly excluded 5300 PoJK DP families from PM Package but GoI too upheld that in 2016
There has been no regular Count of 1947 PoJK DPs; still Bureaucracy gives number as total 31,619 families
DAYA SAGAR
Some POJK-1947 DP families had been so erroneously even disowned by the NC- Congress J&K Government in 2014. It was in the year 1971 that J&K State legislature passed the Jammu and Kashmir Displaced Persons ( Permanent Settlement ) Act 1971 Act No X of 1971 which was enacted for dealing the affairs pertaining to POJK DPs-1947 who had been temporarily made to stay on the state lands / evacuee properties till their areas occupied by Pakistan are vacated {An Act to provide for the permanent settlement of displaced persons and for matters connected therewith :- where Section-4- Power to acquire evacuee land for permanent settlement of displaced persons says:>-if the government is of the opinion that for the permanent settlement of any displaced person it is necessary to acquire the evacuee land allotted to such person government may at any such time acquire such evacuee land by publishing it in the Government gazette a notification to the effect that Government has decided to acquire such evacuee land in pursuance of this section:- And where Section- 6 – Act not applicable to certain lands – says :- >the said Act is not applicable to some lands/ categories particularly :-.. Nothing in foregoing provisions of this Act shall apply (b) to any land belonging to the state or evacuee which is situated in any area in respect of which a Town planning scheme is sanctioned under any town planning law time being in force or (c) to any evacuee land other than such land which has been allotted under rules forming part of annexure to Government . order No. 578-C’of 1954 dated May 7- 1954 }where under the families who on account of setting up of the Dominions of India and Pakistan or on account of civil disturbances or fear in area of the State occupied by Pakistan had after first day of March 1947 left or been displaced from their place of residence in such area and who have been subsequently been residing outside such area in some Indian state other than J&K had been excluded from the definition of the DPs (POJK Displaced Person ). The Jammu and Kashmir Displaced Persons ( Permanent Settlement ) Act 1971 Act No X of 1971 defined under Clause-2 the Displaced Persons :: – “In this Act- unless the context otherwise requires,(a) -displaced person means any person who is a permanent resident of State and who on account of setting up of the Dominions of India and Pakistan or on account of civil disturbances or fear in area of the State occupied by Pakistan has, after first day of March 1947 left or been displaced from his place of residence in such area and who has been subsequently residing outside such area in the State and also includes the successors-in interest of any such person.”The definitions and the provisions in this Act were drawn particularly keeping in view the Displaced Families who had been allotted evacuee or state lands within the peaceful areas of J&K State.
Therefore the definition as drawn in the Jammu and Kashmir Displaced Persons ( Permanent Settlement ) Act 1971 Act No X of 1971 for reference as displaced person cannot be taken as general definition / description for all those subjects of erstwhile princely state of J&K who had been displaced from POJK in 1947 but it is for dealing with the cases of those displaced persons from POJK who had been allotted / assigned government or evacuee lands within J&K. But so strangely the J&K Bureaucracy / Governments considered that as the general definition of POJK DPs for dealing all type of cases like the 5300 POJK DP families of 1947 out of 31619, which were though well recorded in J&K Government records as displaced families from Pakistan occupied areas of J&K but were staying in Indian states other than J&K, who were excluded from the *proposals sent for one time settlement of Rs. 25 Lakh per family in 2014 by the then NC- Congress Government.
It was in March 2016 that Divisional Commissioner Jammu / Deputy Commissioner Jammu published on official website ( jammu.gov.in ) guidelines for Disbursement of Relief of Rs.2000 Cr sanctioned by Ministry of Home Affairs GOI as one time settlement to Displaced Persons of 1947, 1965, 1971 and invited suggestions / comments from public and in response to that in particular reference to the 5300 families of POJK DPs registered with government but staying outside J&K it was submitted on 20-03-2016 that Government should not make them the victim of descriptions for ‘DPs’ as given in 1971 Act since that was not applicable to them and the 1947 POJK DPs who are not staying in J&K / did not find it feasible after 1947 displacement worth survival to settle with in J&K should be included in the Scheme. It was also suggested that as admitted by GOI and State Government at no time GOI /JK Government have done a regular exercise to register all the displaced persons so that should also be done simultaneously and statement on ‘total’ numbers should be kept open. Kind attention was also drawn towards the contents of the one hundred eighty third report on problems being faced by refugees and Displaced Persons in J&K as was presented to Rajya Sabha on 22nd December, 2014 where too such recommendations had been made . It was also pointed out that the term ‘one time settlement’ is un realistic and cannot be unilaterally imposed on the suffering families of 1947 POJK DPs and instead scheme be renamed as “ON Account Payment” to be adjusted against final claims that would be worked out on the basis of individual claim data and norms that may be fixed thereof as and when the time comes for payment of claims against properties left behind in POJK ( if not restored after getting the areas vacated.) It was also pointed out that in the draft note circulated on web no where there is any mention of the basis for amount of one time settlement. But no response had been received. Even the bureaucracy in Centre did not correct the unfair definition picked by state government for Act of 1971 for ‘Displaced Person’ while conveying the final approvals for disbursement of one time settlement to J&K Chief Secretary vide letter No. 31/01/2011-R & SO dated 22-12-2016 s/d by Director Rehabilitation ,FFR Division, MHA, GOI
(The author is a Sr Journalist / Analyst Jammu & Kashmir Affairs dayasagr45@yahoo.com).