5-Marla Land Scheme for Landless Families, Jammu and Kashmir

What is the 5-Marla Land Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir?

The 5-Marla Land Scheme is a Jammu and Kashmir Revenue Department programme under which a landless family is allotted five marlas of state land for building a house. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha launched the scheme in July 2023, and the Revenue Department issued the guidelines under which state land is given to landless people on lease.

A marla is a traditional land measure still used across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab; five marlas is a small residential plot, sized for a house rather than for cultivation. The scheme exists because of a specific gap in India's rural housing programme: Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin and its Awaas Plus survey pay for a house, but they do not provide the land to build it on. A family that qualifies for a PMAY-G house but owns no plot cannot use the grant. The 5-Marla Land Scheme is designed to close exactly that gap.

The scheme is a lease, not a gift of ownership, and this is the single most misunderstood point about it. According to the Revenue Department guidelines reported at the time of approval, the beneficiary pays a one-time premium of Rs 100 per marla and an annual ground rent of Rs 1 per marla, and holds the land on a 40-year lease renewable for another 40 years. For a five-marla plot that is Rs 500 once and Rs 5 a year. The charges are nominal, which is why the scheme is widely described as free land, but the state remains the owner.

Who is eligible for the 5-marla land scheme?

You can be allotted land if you meet all of these conditions:

• You hold a Jammu and Kashmir domicile. This is the first filter and it is absolute.
• You constitute a separate family unit. A grown son living in a joint household is treated on the basis of whether he is a separate unit, not on whether he personally has a plot.
• You own no land in your own name or in the name of any family member.
• You are not entitled to inherit five marlas or more. A family with an ancestral holding large enough to yield a five-marla share is treated as having land available to it, even if the partition has not happened yet.

The scheme targets three groups in particular:

• People eligible for a house under PMAY-G / Awaas Plus who have no land to build on.
• People on the Rural Development Department's 2018-19 permanent waiting list for housing.
• People residing on state land, forest land or other specified land, whose occupation needs to be resolved.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not a domicile of Jammu and Kashmir. The administration clarified the eligible categories publicly after Kashmir-based political parties criticised the scheme on the ground that it might be used to settle outsiders.
• You or any family member owns land, of any size, anywhere.
• You are entitled to inherit five marlas or more of land.
• You are not a separate family unit, and are therefore covered by the household that already holds or will inherit land.

What documents are required for the 5-marla land scheme?

How to apply for the 5-marla land scheme

The scheme does not run as an open online application. Beneficiaries are drawn from lists the government already holds, and the revenue machinery verifies and allots. These are the practical steps.

1. Confirm you are on a housing list. Check whether your household appears in the PMAY-G / Awaas Plus survey as eligible for a house without land, or on the Rural Development Department's 2018-19 permanent waiting list. Your Block Development Office holds these records. If your name is missing, this is the first thing to fix, because the land scheme draws from these lists.
2. Obtain your domicile certificate if you do not already hold one. It is issued by the Tehsildar and is the non-negotiable eligibility document.
3. Apply to the Tehsildar for a landlessness certificate, asking for verification from the revenue record that neither you nor your family members hold land. The Patwari for your village will conduct the field verification.
4. Submit the application with all documents to the Tehsildar's office, who forwards the verified case upward. The case moves from Patwari to Tehsildar to the district administration.
5. The Deputy Commissioner identifies suitable state land in your area and sanctions the allotment. Availability of unencumbered state land at a usable location is what most often determines how long this takes.
6. Execute the lease deed and pay the one-time premium of Rs 100 per marla. Keep the receipt and the lease document safe — they are your proof of right over the plot.
7. Begin construction using your PMAY-G / Awaas Plus grant, which is a separate payment released by the Rural Development Department in instalments against verified construction stages.

What exactly does a beneficiary receive?

• Five marlas of state land for residential use.
• A 40-year lease, renewable for a further 40 years.
• A one-time premium of Rs 100 per marla, so Rs 500 for the full plot.
• Ground rent of Rs 1 per marla per year, so Rs 5 a year.

The land itself is not a cash benefit and cannot be treated as an asset to sell. Because the state retains ownership and the beneficiary holds a lease, a beneficiary should not expect to mortgage or transfer the plot in the way a freehold owner could. The purpose written into the scheme is to enable a house to be built by a family that has nowhere to build it.

Why applications get rejected

• Land found in the family's name. The revenue record check is thorough and covers family members, not only the applicant, so a small ancestral holding in a father's or brother's name defeats the claim.
• Inheritance entitlement of five marlas or more. This is a separate ground from actual ownership and catches many applicants by surprise.
• Domicile certificate not held or not accepted.
• Not a separate family unit, so the household is treated as already provided for.
• Not on the PMAY-G / Awaas Plus or RDD list, which is the entry route to the scheme.
• No suitable state land available in the applicant's area. This is not a rejection on merit but it is the most common practical obstacle, particularly in densely settled and hill areas where unencumbered state land is scarce.

The remedy for the last one is usually patience and follow-up with the Tehsildar and the Deputy Commissioner's office rather than a fresh application, since the case remains pending against land availability.

Where to raise a grievance

The Tehsildar is the first point of contact for verification and for the landlessness certificate. The Deputy Commissioner of the district is the allotting authority and the correct escalation for a delayed or refused case. For the housing grant that runs alongside the land allotment, the Block Development Officer and the district Rural Development Department office handle PMAY-G and Awaas Plus.

No fee beyond the notified premium and ground rent is payable. A person offering to secure an allotment for money is not acting for the Revenue Department, and the plot is allotted from official lists rather than by influence.