15-Year Residency To Be Must For Owning Land In J&K, Ladakh

The government has denied any move to offer special status to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and UT of Ladakh under Article 371 of the Constitution while indicating a move to notify domicile rules for the two newly-created UTs. Union minister of state for PMO Jitendra Singh on Saturday told TOI: “These rumors (about special provisions for UTs of J&K and Ladakh under Article 371) are part of a conspiracy by Congress and National Conference, both of which were prime beneficiaries of now scrapped Article 370, to plant stories in the media and create misgivings. There is no such move to bring back a special status for J&K through the back door. I must also clarify that there is no correlation between Article 370 and Article 371, with the latter meant to only protect the unique cultural identity and traditions of a particular area or state.”