Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir government has rejected over 39,000 claims for land ownership under the Forest Rights Act but has distributed over 65,000 kanals of forest land to over 6,020 scheduled tribe (ST) families, including Gujjars, Bakerwals and other forest dwellers.
A total of 46,090 claims were submitted by Scheduled Tribes (ST) and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) under Individual Forest Rights (IFR) and Community Forest Rights (CFR), senior officials from the Forest department said.
“Of these, 39,906 claims were rejected due to applicants’ inability to provide requisite evidence and documents, while 126 claims are still pending,” an official said.
The majority of the rejections—35,924 claims—occurred at the Gram Sabha level, primarily due to lack of supporting documents, they said. Additionally, 3,982 claims were rejected at the sub-divisional and district-level committees, they said.
The Forest Rights Act mandates a structured process for claim recognition, with approvals granted by gram sabhas, sub-divisional committees, and district-level committees based on laid-down procedures and norms.
“Applications failing to meet these criteria are not considered,” the official said. However, applicants whose claims are rejected have the right to appeal at higher levels, with the final appeal heard by the district-level committee, they said.
The Forest Rights Act, 2006, was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370.
Of the 65,497.21 kanals of forest land distributed by the J&K government, 784.19 kanals were allocated to other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs), officials added.
These lands were granted under 4,803 cases, comprising 430 individual forest rights (IFR), 4,277 community forest rights (CFR) and 96 community forest rights.
Among the 6,020 land titles issued to ST families, the Jammu region received the majority; 5,195 land titles were issued in 10 districts of the Jammu region, they said.
In Kashmir, only 825 land titles were only to Gujjars and Bakerwals, they said.
“No forest land was allocated to ST communities in Srinagar district, and only one land title was issued in Baramulla,” the data revealed.
Additionally, five land titles each were issued in Ganderbal and Udhampur districts followed by seven titles issued in Kulgam district. Rajouri district recorded the highest number of land titles at 2,852, followed by Poonch district with 1,902 titles, they said.
The implementation of the FRA in J&K remains a crucial step toward recognising the rights of tribal communities while ensuring compliance with legal and administrative norms, officials said.
1.66 lakh kanals of custodian land under illegal occupation in UT
1.66 lakh kanals of custodian land are under illegal occupation across Jammu and Kashmir, while the government has managed to retrieve only 4501 kanals in the last five years.
The revelation was made by the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah in a written reply to a question of NC MLA, Farooq Ahmad Shah, in the Assembly on Tuesday.
The CM disclosed that out of 1. 66 lakh kanals, 1, 62, 340 kanals are under illegal occupation in Jammu and 3983 kanals in Kashmir, adding, only 4501 kanals of land have been retrieved from encroachers.
While 2060 kanals have been retrieved in Kashmir, 2441 kanals have been retrieved from Jammu, he added.
