SRINAGAR — Official data placed before the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly shows that 631 non-residents have purchased 386 kanals and 128 square feet of land in the Union Territory since 2019 for a total consideration of ₹129.97 crore.
According to Revenue Department data presented in the Assembly, 378 non-residents purchased 212 kanals, 13 marlas and 128 square feet in the Jammu region, while 253 purchased 173 kanals and seven marlas in Kashmir. The data covers transactions recorded after the 2019 changes in the legal framework governing land ownership in J&K.
Year-wise figures
One non-resident purchased one kanal in 2020 for ₹10.06 lakh. The number rose to 57 buyers in 2021, 127 in 2022, 119 in 2023, 169 in 2024 and 158 in 2025. Land purchased in 2025 alone measured 106 kanals, 11 marlas and 201 square feet, with a reported consideration of ₹37.17 crore.
Around 350 of the 631 buyers were reported to be residents of Ladakh, which became a separate Union Territory in 2019. Other buyers identified in reporting on the government data came from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Jharkhand and Bihar. Eleven buyers from Delhi were reported to have purchased land in Kashmir, while only one buyer from West Bengal appeared in the lists.
Larger purchases in Srinagar
Most transactions were for relatively small parcels, but reporting on the data identified some larger purchases in Srinagar. Delhi-based Luxury Resorts Pvt Ltd was reported to have acquired three parcels measuring 22, three and six kanals at Chatterhama, a combined 31 kanals. Another buyer, identified as H.G. Chawla, was reported to have acquired 15 kanals at Harwan.
The latest political debate over such transactions was triggered by Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, who alleged that a Mumbai-based businessman identified by him as Chawla had been allowed to purchase land at Syedpora for a hotel project. He also alleged that a Delhi-based company had acquired 150 kanals at Chatterhama in the Hazratbal area. These are Bukhari’s allegations and are not part of the Assembly data.
Separate Sangarmal lease transaction
A separate and larger transaction involves Sangarmal in Srinagar. About 45 kanals of Srinagar Development Authority land surrounding the Sangarmal City Centre were offered through an online forward-bidding process. The successful bid reached ₹421.75 crore, with Parmesh Construction Company Ltd emerging as the successful bidder in a consortium involving J&K-based Pahalgam Green Hotels and Bhutani Infra Ltd.
The Sangarmal transaction differs materially from the private purchases disclosed in the Assembly. The property was not sold outright but offered on a full-lease basis for development. Reports said the bid was opened on August 25 and closed in the early hours of August 26 after the price rose well above the government’s earlier expectations.
The J&K Land Grants Rules, 2022, notified by the Revenue Department in December 2022, define a lease as an arrangement under which the lessor conveys the use and occupation of land for a specified purpose and period in return for consideration. The rules also recognise companies and other business entities as potential lessees.
The auction attracted three reported bids, with Parmesh Construction narrowly ahead of the second-highest bidder, Construction Engineers, while Garuda Construction and Engineering Ltd was also in the race. The property is located near the Kashmir Golf Course, Polo View and the Lal Chowk area.
The Sangarmal complex, developed as a major commercial project, had remained substantially underutilised for years. Its commercial inventory included shops, Craft Bazaar spaces, kiosks, food courts, a restaurant and office spaces. The lease arrangement is intended to facilitate redevelopment of the surrounding land and revival of the stalled commercial project.
The Sangarmal deal is a government-land lease and not an additional entry in the 631 private purchases figure. The available public data does not provide a complete name-by-name list of all 631 non-resident purchasers or establish that every transaction was for commercial purposes.
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