Over 16,000 kanal JDA land under illegal occupation

Jammu, Mar 8: Over 16,000 kanal of Jammu Development Authority (JDA) land is under illegal occupation of private parties and the land mafia.

This accounts for more than 20 percent of JDA’s total land holdings.

This shocking revelation emerged in reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Jammu-based RTI activist Raman Sharma.

In response to Sharma’s online RTI query, Vishavjeet Singh, the Secretary and Public Information Officer (PIO) of the JDA, vide his Office Letter No JDA/RTI/PIO/2025/79/17 dated March 4, 2025, informed that out of 80,976 kanals and 10 marlas of total land holdings of JDA, 16,467 Kanals and 10 Marlas is under illegal occupation of encroachers.

“As of date, only 65,508 Kanals remain in JDA’s actual possession which means 20.34 percent of land belonging to JDA is under illegal possession,” the reply revealed.

As per the reply, in Jammu district, JDA owns 68,992 kanal and 11 marla of land, while in Samba district, it owns 11,983 kanal and 19 marla.

However, JDA refused to provide information regarding the total area of land vacated and retrieved by it (JDA) from the year 2015 to 2025.

The JDA’s response to this query in the RTI application simply stated – ‘Record Not Available.’

Responding to the query related to the total number of legal cases pending against JDA in different courts, the reply served by JDA revealed that as of now, a total of 635 court cases were pending against it, including 212 in subordinate courts, 422 in the J&K High Court, and one case pending in the Supreme Court of India.

Expressing concern over exposure in reply to his application under the RTI Act, Raman Sharma urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take note of it and retrieve the encroached land worth billions of rupees.