J&K Administration Serves Eviction Notices on Nazool Land Occupants in Srinagar

The Jammu and Kashmir Administration has issued eviction notices to several occupants of Nazool land in Srinagar, covering prominent commercial locations such as Lal Chowk, Kara Nagar, Raj Bagh and the Polo View centre. Nazool land is government property that is allotted on lease.

Among those served is the Mohi-ud-Din Trust, whose building stands in the Polo View commercial centre on Residency Road. The eviction order, issued by the Tehsildar, Srinagar, states that the material produced by the Trust does not establish the existence of any subsisting lease, nor an order of renewal or extension from the competent authority. The order has been passed in exercise of powers under Section (1) of the J&K Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1988, with the officer acting as Estates Officer under the Act.

The Trust has been directed to vacate the premises and hand over peaceful possession to the Estates Officer on or before September 21, 2026. The notice warns that failure to comply within the specified time will lead to eviction and taking over of possession under Section 5(2) of the Act.

According to the Estates department, a prior notice was issued on August 8, 2026, calling upon the Trust to produce documentary evidence establishing its authorisation to occupy the public premises. A reply was submitted with the original lease as well as various representations and correspondence seeking renewal of the lease, but these could not establish a subsisting lease.

Notices have also been issued at other high-end locations in the city and against occupants who have defaulted on rent. In one notice issued in Kara Nagar, the department said the occupant had failed to furnish any satisfactory explanation or justification for the default in payment of rent and for deviation from the terms and conditions of the original lease, including the stipulated purpose. The reply in that case relied on an earlier expired lease and the erstwhile Roshni Act, but produced nothing to justify the present occupation of the land.

In most of these notices, eviction is set to be executed on September 21.

A lease holder from Raj Bagh questioned the move, saying the property had been held on lease since the 1930s and that requests for extension of the lease had been pursued regularly with the government in the past but remained pending. The lease holder said the notices were surprising and noted that hundreds of families live in houses on Nazool land, warning that any such drive would render people homeless and affect their livelihoods.

Official figures place 58,034 kanals of state land in Jammu and Kashmir under the Nazool land category, comprising 50,343 kanals in the Jammu division and 7,690 kanals in the Kashmir division. Around 5,618 kanals of this land are leased out for commercial activities in high-end markets in Jammu city and Srinagar.