The Jammu and Kashmir governor administration Thursday approved delegation of powers regarding transfer of state or departmental land to other departments in favour of divisional and deputy commissioners in case of development or public utility projects.
The decision was taken at a State Administrative Council (SAC) meeting which was chaired by Governor Satya Pal Malik, an official spokesman said.
He said the SAC decided the divisional commissioners concerned would be authorised to decide the cases relating to transfer of state or departmental land exceeding 10 Kanals upto 100 Kanals (free from encumbrances) to the state government departments for public purposes or developmental programmes, within his or her territorial jurisdiction.
Similarly, the deputy commissioners concerned would be authorised to decide the cases relating to transfer of state land upto 10 Kanals (free from encumbrances), the spokesman said.
He said the revenue department would decide cases relating to transfer of state or departmental land exceeding 100 Kanals and upto 500 Kanals (free from encumbrances) to the state government department(s) for public purposes or developmental programmes.
He said the SAC approved that cases relating to transfer or lease of state or departmental land to state government department(s) exceeding 500 Kanals and transfer of any quantum of land, transfer or lease of state or departmental land, to government owned corporations, autonomous bodies, agencies and public sector undertakings for public purposes or developmental programmes, irrespective of the quantum of land involved and transfer of land in terms of Article 256 (2) of the Constitution of India as applicable to the State of Jammu and Kashmir,would be submitted to the state cabinet or state administrative council for consideration or approval.
The SAC directed the transfer of land in terms of delegation to be subject to the condition that prior approval to the execution of the project is obtained by the indenting department from its competent authority and conveyed to the appropriate revenue authorities in the first instance, the spokesman said.
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He said the decision would obviate delay in completion of the projects of public importance like schools, colleges, health centres and in particular where the requirement is minimal.
In the current scenario, it takes the department's considerable time to process these cases for seeking approval of the state cabinet or SAC, he said.
The spokesman said the decision would not only help fast track execution of development projects of public importance but also their completion on time without cost overruns.
"This will also ease the job of departments in processing and clearing cases relating to land transfer from one government department to another," he said.