Salient Features Of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Bill [Read Bill]

Consequent to the promulgation of the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir)Order, 2019, and with a view to change the geographical and political status of the present State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Parliament passed the Jammu andKashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019. Once the Bill gets the assent of the President, it will result in the formal bifurcation of the present State of Jammu and Kashmir into two successor Union Territories – UT of Jammu and Kashmir, and UT of Ladakh. The Government has given two reasons for the bifurcation of the existing State of J&K into two Union Territories: The Ladakh Division of the State of Jammu and Kashmir is geographically large but sparsely populated, with a difficult terrain, and there has been a long-pending demand of people of Ladakh to give it the status of a Union Territory. The prevailing internal security situation and cross border terrorism in the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir. Consequent to the President's assent, when the Bill becomes an Act, it will bring a number of changes to the present status and system of governance in the newly created Union Territories, and the provisions of the Act shall have overriding effect over any other law. Creation of new Union Territories: The existing State of Jammu and Kashmir shall cease to exist and two successor Union Territories shall be created – the Union Territory of Ladakh, comprising of the 2 districts of Kargil and Leh, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, comprising of the remaining parts of the present State of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, the Bill reduces the total number of States in India from 29 to 28, and increases the total number of Union Territories from 7 to 9. Accordingly, the First Schedule to the Constitution shall stand amended to incorporate these changes. Administration of the new Union Territories: Both the Union Territories shall be administered by the President acting through the Lieutenant Governor, to be appointed by him under Article 239 of the Constitution. For the time being, the Governor of the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir shall become the Lieutenant Governor for both the Union Territories, and shall remain as such for a period determined by the President of India. Thereafter, the President may appoint different Lieutenant Governors for the new Union Territories. This temporary arrangement is similar to the one provided for in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, which resulted in the birth of Telangana, and the Governor of undivided Andhra Pradesh was made the Governor both the successor states. Furthermore, the members of Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, and the Indian Forest Service shall continue to function on the existing cadres until the Central Government specifies their allocation between the successor Union Territories on the recommendation of the Lt. Governor. However, in future, the officers of these 3 Services shall be borne on the AGMUT Cadre, which means that they are liable to be posted in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa Mizoram, and any of the 9 UTs. The Lt. Governor has the discretion in all matters related to the All India Services and the Anti Corruption Bureau, and he is not bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers. The Public Service Commission of the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir shall become the Public Service Commission of the UT of Jammu Kashmir and the needs of the UT of Ladakh shall be served by Union Public Service Commission Legislature and Executive: Article 239A of the Constitution, which applies to the UT of Puducherry, shall also apply to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, there shall be a Legislature with a Council of Ministers; however, the UT of Ladakh shall not have a Legislature. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir shall have a Legislative Assembly consisting of 107 elected members, out of which 24 seats shall remain vacant which correspond to the areas currently under the occupation of Pakistan. Furthermore, the Lt. Governor is empowered to nominate 2 members to give adequate representation to women. Seats in the Legislative Assembly shall also be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The quorum to constitute a meeting of the Legislative Assembly has been fixed at 10 members or one-tenth of the total number of members, whichever is greater. The provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution (Anti-defection Law) shall also apply to the Members of the Legislative Assembly. The Election Commission has been empowered to increase the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly from 107 to 114 and carry out delimitation of the constituencies in accordance with the Delimitation Act, 2002, based on census held in the year 2011. A major change that has been brought about in the powers of the...

Salient Features Of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Bill [Read Bill]

Devesh Ratan & Iti Johri

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