MHA Amends Rules To Broaden Administrative Roles Of Jammu & Kashmir L-G

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended rules of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, widening the ambit of the administrative role of the Lieutenant Governor (L-G).

According to the notification, the MHA notified that the amended ‘Transaction of Business’ Rules under Section 55 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, inserting new Sections, give more power to the L-G in matters pertaining to police and public order, All India Service (AIS) which require prior concurrence of the Finance Department and also their transfers and postings.

“Provided also that in respect of matters connected with posting and transfer of Administrative Secretaries and cadre posts of All India Services officers, proposal shall be submitted to the Lieutenant Governor by the Administrative Secretary, General Administration Department through the Chief Secretary,” reads the notification.

The amendment gives powers to the L-G to appoint the Advocate General, and Law Officers. Proposals regarding grant or refusal of prosecution sanction or filing of appeal will also have to be placed before the L-G first.

“No proposal which requires previous concurrence of the Finance Department with regard to ‘Police’ ‘Public Order’, ‘All India Service’ and ‘Anti -Corruption Bureau’ to exercise the discretion of the L-G under the Act shall be concurred or rejected unless it has been placed before the Lieutenant Governor through the Chief Secretary,” reads the amendments.

“Any proposal regarding grant or refusal of prosecution sanction or filing of appeal shall be placed before the L-G through the Chief Secretary by the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs,” it further said.

It added said that the proposals regarding Prisons, Directorate of Prosecution and Forensic Science Laboratory have to be submitted to the L-G by administrative secretary, Home Department through the Chief Secretary.

Manoj Sinha has been serving as the L-G of Jammu and Kashmir since August 2020.

Responding to development, Congress said that it can only mean that full-fledged statehood for J&K is unlikely in the immediate future.

Taking to X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh reminded of the consensus across political parties that J-K must immediately become a full-fledged state of the Indian Union once again. “The self-anointed non-biological PM had said that full statehood would be restored to the reorganised Jammu and Kashmir, which was converted into a Union Territory in August 2019. His statement is on record. Last night the Home Ministry notified amended rules under Section 55 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, inserting new sections, widening the powers to the L-G. The only meaning that can be drawn from this notification is that there is no possibility of Jammu and Kashmir getting the status of a full state in the near future,” he wrote.

The Supreme Court had mandated that elections to the J&K Assembly should be held by September 30, 2024, he added.