The Roshni Act was initially known as the
Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership Rights to the Occupants) Act, 2001 .

It was enacted in 2001 throughout the National Conference regime led by Farooq Abdullah within the State.

As per the Act, the possession rights of State land could be transferred to its occupants on the cost of a price mounted by the federal government.

The 12 months 1990 was set because the deadline for encroachment on state land.

The Roshni Act was an formidable challenge to satisfy Jammu and Kashmir’s persistent energy disaster.

It was the govts calculation that regularising 20 lakh kanals of State land underneath occupation of locals
would help it raise ₹25,000 crore .

The proceeds acquired could be used to arrange hydroelectricity initiatives within the State to generate further energy.

What have been the next amendments made to the Roshni Act?

Ghulam Nabi Azad additionally effected quite a lot of amendments to the Act when he was Chief Minister. The amendments prolonged the deadline from 1990 to 2004, which was later prolonged until 2007.

According to the contemporary amendments, additional rest was granted to occupants in the marketplace costs mounted earlier in 2001.

Why is a two decades-old regulation underneath the scanner?

The
Comptroller and Auditor General tabled a report earlier than the Jammu and Kashmir meeting in 2014 and identified irregularities in implementing the Act. 

A public curiosity litigation was filed by a Jammu-based activist S.Okay. Bhalla in 2011, alleging that politicians, bureaucrats and income officers have been hand in glove in committing fraud underneath the Act.

In 2018, then governor Satya Pal Malik repealed the Act, saying it failed to satisfy its aims.

In October 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court held the Roshni Act as ‘unconstitutional’.

The Jammu and Kashmir authorities had initially agreed to implement the High Court order. But it has now
filed a review petition , saying “a large number of common people would suffer”.