State Subject to Domicile: The Journey of Indian Citizenship of  J&K Residents

(From the Feudal Dogra State through Independent India to the Present-day Naya Bharat)

(By: Dr. S.N. Pandita*)

Introduction

From a State Subject to Permanent Resident and now to a Domicile has been nearly a century-long eventful journey for the natives of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh as the citizens of India now Bharat. However, given the ethnic cleansing and genocide committed against the minority Pandit community (Hindus) this status now holds very little on ground for the exiled community of the Kashmiri Pandits within the Valley of Kashmir.

Nevertheless, a revisit to the landmark stages of this journey can likely be of some nostalgic interest to the older generation of the exiled KP community in general and for the younger generation, in particular, it is expected to hold some academic and intellectual interest; hence this recall for both the segments of the readers.

Dogra Rule & Outsiders Entering Kashmir

It all began with the advent of the Dogras in Kashmir. Soon after Maharaja Gulab Singh came to the throne of Kashmir in 1846, he appointed Dewan Jawala Shahi, a Khatri from Panjab, as his Prime Minister. With him came a train of Panjabis into the valley.  At the time, practically, there were no educated natives who could occupy various positions, both in the higher and lower ranks of administrative machinery in the State, Jawala Shahi inducted many of his qualified Panjabi favourites to occupy such positions.

This arrangement continued through Maharaja Gulab Singh’s rule without a murmur even after the Prime Minister was changed.

Following his death in 1857, Maharaja Gulab Singh was succeeded by his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh who continued with this practice with some additional favour to the Bengalis who occupied several key positions particularly in the judiciary of the State until his death in 1885. Next arrived Maharaja Pratap Singh who had both the Panjabis and Bengalis in key positions of his administrative set-up. Such outsiders were commonly called as Gair Mulki. The result was the coming of many outsiders who received extensive land grants, were placed in many positions of trust and authority. Moreover, the commerce was monopolized mostly by the Panjabis and with the waves of Panjabi settlers immigrating into Kashmir the natives found themselves pushed into background, though the process was slow

Awareness, Protest & Agitation

However, the situation changed when two colleges of higher education and learning; the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar in 1905 and the other, the Prince of Wales College, in Jammu, in 1907 were setup that soon turned-out young college educated natives, mostly Kashmiri Pandit (KP) boys in Srinagar and few Dogras from Jammu   by sometime about 1912 onwards.

It were these young educated natives of the State who now aspired for employment opportunities in the administrative machinery of Jammu and Kashmir. In a way, the Kashmiri Pandits and the Dogra youth joined hands to press the demand for their share in the State’s   administration by way of employment in many suitable positions. The agitation was spearheaded mainly by the Kashmiri Pandits and the Dogras of Jammu. They were first to take to modern education, long before the Kashmiri Muslims became politically active. The main voices of these demands came from the KPs as they felt deprived of their share in the services. The Kashmiri Muslims were not in the picture at this stage.

In 1922, at the instance of Maharaj Kumar Hari Singh, the then Commander-in-Chief of the State Forces and a Senior Member of the State Council and also next in line to the throne constituted a committee to define the term ‘Hereditary State Subject’ and examine the entire question of naturalization in the State.

The heads of all the departments were directed to prepare a list of Mulkies, naturalized Mulkies and non-State Subjects in the State employment. At the time, a circular was also issued that under the signatures of the Maharaja, Pratap Singh, that prohibited a non-State Subject to acquire land in the State. The circular also put a moratorium on the employment of any non-State Subject in the employment of the State without the express permission of the Maharaja.

However, nothing much came out of this exercise without any confirmed official definition of the State Subject. But this nebulous situation forged a greater alliance between the Kashmiri Pandits and the Dogra Sadar Sabha to obligate the Maharaja on defining the term Hereditary State Subject.

In Jammu, the contest came to the fore in the Dogra versus the Panjabi controversy. In Kashmir, the British officers sided with the Kashmiri Pandits against their fight with the outsiders who were mostly Arya Samajis with whom was associated the name of Lala Lajpat Rai.  In fact, the Panjabis were an anathema to the British and, hence, their sympathies lay with the Kashmiri Pandits in their just demands.

It was here that Pandit Jia Lal Kilam, Pandit Shanker Koul, Pandit Jia Lal Koul and Pandit Jia Lal Jalali, all of them fresh from college between the years 1922 and 1924 raised the banner of agitation through outside press for securing the rights of the State Subjects. Pandit Jia Lal Kilam organised public meetings and held conferences both in Jammu and Srinagar under the banner of Dogra Sadar Sabha. This banner of revolt forged some sort of vague nationalism and the educated classes both from Jammu and Kashmir felt a kind of common kinship in this cause.

In 1925, an article appeared in Akhbar-i-Aam published by Pandit Gwash Lal Koul from Lahore highlighting the plight of native Kashmiris under the heading Unemployment in Kashmir. For writing this scathing piece against the Dogra Maharaja, a stern action was taken against Pandit Gwash Lal Koul, he galvanized the voice of educated Kashmiri Pandits to take up the matter further through the Indian Press and pleaded with the educated young Kashmiri Pandit men to carry out a relentless agitation for securing their exclusive employment rights to man the state administration.

State Subject Movement & Institution of the Commission

The State Subject Movement had very distinctive features as it amalgamated both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir on the issue. It was in one of the annual conferences of the Dogra Sadar Sabha held in Srinagar in October 1926 that Pandit Jia Lal Kilam moved a resolution demanding that only those persons be termed as Hereditary State Subjects whose ancestors had been residing in the state since the time of Maharaja Gulab Singh and be given preference in employment over those who were merely residing in the State from its formation in 1846.

This paved way to demand the constitution of a committee which was urged to define the term State Subject in the finality and as early as possible.  Maharaja Hari Singh appointed a Commission under the chairmanship of General Janak Singh, the then Revenue Minister to define the term. This Commission comprised both the officials and non-officials besides the representatives of the natives and outsiders with broad representation given to all the section of the population of the state including the Kashmiris, the Dogra and the Panjabis.

The First State Subject Notification

The Commission submitted its report in 1927 defining the term State Subject. Following this recommendation, the Private Secretary to Maharaja Hari Singh, P.K. Wattal (Pyare Krishen Wattal) issued a Circular Order dated January 31, 1927 by command of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur that read:

“His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur has been pleased to command that in future in the case of every new entrant into State Service the authority empowered to make the appointment should certify that he has satisfied himself after due enquiries that the person appointed is a hereditary State subject. Further, that in the absence of such a certificate the Accountant General should not pass the pay bill of such State servant without the definite orders of His Highness in Council to the contrary.

“For the purpose of this order the term “Hereditary State Subject” will be held to mean and include 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 1942 (1885 AD) and have since been permanently residing therein. The certificate will be given after due enquiries by the Wazir Wazarat in whose charge the candidate for State service resides and the form of such certificate should be submitted by the Accountant General for the approval of His Highness in Council. In the meantime, this order will have effect from the date of issue, namely 31^st January 1927.”

The Second State Subject Notification

A little less than three months later a Government Notification No: 84, of the Judicial Department, to this effect was issued on April 20, 1927 by the Judicial Minister Nazir Ahmed which read:

“ The following definition of the term “State Subject” has been sanctioned by His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur (vide Private Secretary letter No; 2354 dated 31^st January 1927, to the Revenue Member of Council) and is hereby promulgated for general information:-

“Class I– All persons born and residing within the State before the commencement of the reign of His Highness the late Maharaja Gulab Singh Bahadur and also persons who settled therein before the commencement of Samvat year 1942 (1885 AD) and have since been permanently residing”.

“Class II– All persons other than those belonging to class I who settled within the State before the close of Samvat year 1968 (1911 AD) and have permanently resided and acquired immovable property therein”.

“Class III – All persons other than those belonging to class 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’ continuous residence therein.”

Notes to The Notification

The Notification further carried two Notes and read:

Note (1) “In the matter of grants of State Scholarships, State land for agriculture and house building purpose and recruitment to State Service, State Subject of class I should receive preference over other classes and those of class II over class III subject, however, to the order dated 31^st January 1927 of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur regarding employment of hereditary State subjects in Government service”.

Note (2) “The descendants of the persons who have acquired 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 a State subject of class II his sons and grandsons will ipso facto acquire the same status of class II and not of class I”

The Third State Subject Notification

Subsequently, vide another Notification dated June 27, 1931, one more Class of State Subject and one more qualifying Note was added as Class IV State Subject and Note 3.

The Class IV State subjects were defined as:

“Companies which have been registered as such within the State and which, being companies in which the Government are financially interested or as to the 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”.

The Note 3 read:

“The wife or a widow of a State Subject of any class shall acquire the status of her husband as State Subject of Class as her husband, so long as she resides in the State and does not leave the State for permanent residence out-side the State”.

State Subject Certificates for Employment Only

Evidently, the State Subject Certificates issued under the Notification dated 31^st January 1927 of the Private Secretary to His Highness Maharaja Bahadur Hari Singh became paramount in securing employment in the state Government.

After the establishment of this definition in 1927, every entrant into the State Government service was required to produce a certificate of his being a hereditary State subject of Class I. Such certificates were issued by the Wazir Wazarat in whose jurisdiction the candidate happened to reside.

Curse for Pandits & Boon for Muslims

Parenthetically, it was the Kashmiri Pandits, whose untiring efforts including the agitation “Kashmir for Kashmiris” in the 20s of the last century led to the implementation of the State Subject Law, yet “ultimately the definition proved boon for the majority community”, the Muslims of the State and curse for the Kashmiri Pandits in the following decades because of the vicious communal politics that played out in the post-independence era.

Format & Purpose of Early State Subject Certificates

The earliest State Subject Certificates were simply titled: “Certificate of Hereditary State Subject”. These were essentially issued only for the purpose of employment of the candidate in the State Service. Such certificates expressly stated the name of the candidate and his residential address and also declared his being a candidate for employment in the particular department in which he had or would apply for employment and being a hereditary State Subject of Jammu and Kashmir territory “within the meaning of Private Secretary to His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur’s Notification No: Nil, dated 31^st January 1927”.

Such certificates were issued by the Wazir  Wazarat on the basis of his enquiries and how he had satisfied himself that the candidate had fulfilled the criterions of the Notification dated 31^st January 1927.

The present writer has perused two such certificates extant presently. The first one bears No: 71 issued on November 27, 1929 under the signatures of the then Wazir- Wazarat Sri Ram.

This certificate is issued on the attestations of Prof. Radha Krishen Bhan and Prof. Nand Lal Koul, both Professors at S.P. College, Srinagar and Pandit Jia Lal Kilam, then a Pleader at the Maharaja’s Court who later rose to become the Judge of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and came to be famously known as Justice Kilam.

In that sense this certificate is uniquely historical for being issued on the attestation of Pandit Jia Lal Kilam who was the main architect of the State Subject Law as detailed in the earlier parts of this paper.

The second certificate bears the title: “His Highness’ Government, Jammu And Kashmir” is issued on August 12, 1930 under the signature of Wazir Wazarat S.N. Raina. The certificate is issued on two criterions; firstly, on the record of Certificate No: 71 dated November 27, 1929 and also the Wazir Wazarat knew the applicant personally.

However, subsequent to the State Subject Notification dated   April 20, 1927 the candidates were also issued certificates of being State Subjects of Class I, II and III within the meaning of the Judicial Department Notification No: 84 dated the 20^th April 1927 and Class IV vide Notification dated June 27, 1931. Such certificates allowed the candidate to acquire State land for agriculture and house building purposes and avail State Scholarships for educational purposes.

The fundamental criterion for the issuance of such certificates was that the candidate’s cast was not declared as Non-Agriculturist in Gazette dated June 29, 1934. Presently a State Subject Certificate of Class I category of Hereditary State Subject issued on January 29, 1937 by the Tehsildar Khas, Southern, Srinagar vide office File No; 1305 of 1937 still survives.

Permanent Residency Certificates

These definitions of State Subjects were later adopted and subsumed, essentially unchanged into the term “Permanent Residents” in the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution adopted on November 17, 1956 which came into effect on January 26, 1957 in conjunction to  Article 370 of the Indian Constitution adopted on  October 17, 1949. All persons who were State Subjects as on May 14, 1954 were deemed as Permanent Residents of the state.

From then onwards, while the validity of the State Subject certificates continued to remain effective a revised certificate of Permanent Residency also came into vogue as defined under Section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Such certificates were issued under the signature of Deputy Commissioner of the respective divisions of the state.

State Subject Certificates with Riders Issued to Kashmiri Pandits

By late 70s of the last century, the main criterion on which such certificates were issued to Kashmiri Pandits were for the “Purpose of Training Only”. In the case of the female Kashmiri Pandit holders, an additional rider was put with the remarks “Valid till Marriage” subsequent to the incorporation of Article 35 A in the Indian Constitution adopted in sequel to the 1952 Delhi Agreement reached between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on July 24, 1952.

Annulling the State Subject & Permanent Residency Certificates

For subsequent several decades both the State Subject Certificates issued  during the Dogra Period of Maharaja Hari Singh and the Permanent Residency Certificates issued thereafter in independent India by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for the  permanent residents of the State remained as valid documents until  they were annulled by scraping Articles 370 and 35 A of the Indian Constitution by a Parliamentary Act on August 5, 2019 along with which the State was also bifurcated into two Union Territories, the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and  the UT of Ladakh.

Birth of Domicile Certificates

Subsequent, administrative orders issued by the Government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir replaced the State Subject Certificates and Permanent Residency Certificates with a common Domicile Certificates. According to the laid down rules and prescribed procedures all the holders of the State Subject Certificates and Permanent Residency Certificates were granted Domicile Certificates.

Domicile Certificates to Other Non- Permanent Resident Categories

However, other non-permanent residents of the State, or outsiders have now also been made eligible to become Domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir subject to the laid down new criterions. These include all persons and their family members who serve in Jammu and Kashmir and belong to all the categories of the Indian Civil Services like, IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc ; persons and their family members belonging to military and para-military  forces;  any person who studies in Jammu and Kashmir up to class VII and necessarily  has passed Class 10 Examination of  any Educational Board be that of State or Central and persons who have a continuous residency of 15 years and more in the Union Territory shall also become eligible for Domicile Certificates of the Union Territory.

Introduction of Watermark Seal in Domicile Certificates of Exiled Kashmiri Pandits

It may be noted that all previously issued State Subject Certificates and Permanent Residency Certificates were issued on normal printed stationary of the Government without any Court of Arms of the Dogra insignia or the State logo of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the latest Domicile Certificates issued to the members of the exiled Kashmiri Pandit Community bear a printed watermark seal of the lion of the national Ashoka Pillar and the certificates are issued under the signatures of Relief & Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrant)

State Subject Movement & Trinity of Jia Lals

Looking in retrospect it will be evident to readers that the crusade of awareness, protest and agitation that finally culminated in the promulgation of the State Subject Law was inaugurated by Kashmiri Pandits. However, what appears to be divinely coincidental is the fact that the Movement for State Subject that was started by four Kashmiri Pandits; and three of them were named Jia Lal (Kilam, Koul and Jalali). The fourth one was Shanker Koul.