Sant Kumar Sharma
Almost nine decades ago, on April 20, 1927, Maharaja Hari Singh, the then ruler of Jammu & Kashmir, issued first set of rules for his “State Subjects’’ in order to distinguish between the natives in his kingdom and those who were “outsiders’’.
These guidelines conferred special rights on the people who were the State Subjects and curtailed the rights of those who came to J&K from outside. Those who were originally residents of the state were obviously given more rights and preference in terms of employment in government jobs, scholarships, land allotment and many other things.
Those who were known as State Subjects (then in 1927) are now called Permanent Residents of the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
These people are entitled to a certificate called Permanent Resident Certificate or PRC. The possession of this legal document makes them distinct from people called Non Permanent Residents by the revenue authorities.
As already stated, the Maharaja issued a Notification on April 27, 1927, which read as under:
State Subjects
(1) Notification dated the 20th April, 1927 No. 1-L/84 –
The following definition of the term “State Subjects” has been sanctioned by His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur (Vide Private Secretary’s letter No. 2354, dated January 31, 1927 to the Revenue Member of Council) and is hereby promulgated for general information.
The term “State Subjects” means and includes-
Class-I : All persons born and residing within the State before the commencement of the reign of His Highness the late Maharaja Gulab Singh Sahib Bahadur, and also
persons who settled therein before the commencement of Samvat year 1942 and have since been
permanently residing therein.
Class-II : All persons other than those belonging to Class-I who
settled within the State before the close of Samvat year 1968 and have since permanently resided and acquired immovable property therein;
Class-III : All persons, other than those belonging to Classes I and II permanently residing within the State, who have acquired under a rayatnama any immovable property therein or who may hereafter acquire such property under an Ijazatnama and may execute a
rayatnama after ten years of
continuous residence therein.
Class-IV : Companies which have been registered as such within the State and which, being companies in which the Govt. are financially interested or as to economic benefit to the State or to the financial
stability of which the Government, are
satisfied, have by a special order of His Highness been declared to be State Subjects.
Note-I : In matters of grant of the State scholarships, State lands, for agricultural and house building purposes and recruitment to State Service, State Subjects of Class-I should receive preference over other classes and those of Class-II, over Class-III, subject however, to the order dated 31st January, 1927 of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur regarding employment of hereditary State Subjects in Government Service.
Note-II : The descendants of the persons who have secured the Status of any class of the State Subjects will be entitled to become the State Subjects of the same class. For example, if A is declared State
subject of class-II his sons and grandsons will ipso facto acquire the status of the same Class-II and not of Class-I.
Note-III : The wife or the widow of a State Subject of any class shall acquire the status of her husband as State Subject of the same class as her husband, so long as she resides in the State and does not leave the State for permanent residence
outside the State.
Note-IV : For the purposes of the interpretation of the term State Subjects either with reference to any law for the time being in force or otherwise, the definition given in this Notification as amended up to date shall be read as if such amended definition existed in this Notification as originally issued.
This Notification makes it clear that Maharaja Hari Singh
was a visionary and a progressive ruler in matters of gender equality. He did not discriminate on the basis of gender and the rights and privileges enjoyed by his female state subjects were the same as those enjoyed by their male counterparts.
Recent Controversy
Some time ago, doubts were expressed in some quarters in J&K regarding the effect of endorsement “Valid Till Marriage’’ on the PRCs issued to the women. Mainly prior to the announcement of Dr Susheela Sawhney judgment as some revenue officers claimed that the judgment was
prospective in nature. The judgment is considered very vital for the rights of the women of J&K.
The endorsement “Valid Till Marriage” was held illegal, wrong and not in accordance with any law in existence ever since April 20, 1927. One way in which the government could correct this illegality was to recall their PRCs with the endorsement.
This was not done as the government chose to challenge the Full Bench order delivered by the Jammu & Kashmir High Court. The government headed by late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed went to the Supreme Court and filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP). There was
apparently no confusion in the government as a legal luminary, Muzaffar Hussein Beigh was the Law Minister of J&K then (15 years ago in the year 2002).
In the judgement which holds field today, Justice Vijay Kumar Jhanji said, the Reference to the Full Bench is: “Whether the daughter of a permanent resident of the state of Jammu & Kashmir marrying a Non Permanent resident loses her status as a permanent resident of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, to hold, inherit and acquire immovable property in the state?”
After weighing arguments, both advanced by the lawyers of the petitioners and the respondents, he said: “In the ultimate analysis, my answer is in negative to the question referred to the Full Bench for its consideration. Accordingly, I hold that the daughter of a permanent resident of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will not lose status as a permanent resident of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on her marriage with a person, who is not a permanent resident of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Reference is accordingly answered.’’
(The writer is J&K-based sr. journalist)
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