[ad_1]
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, omitting a provision requiring cost of honorarium to panches and sarpanches (village head) within the newly created Union Territory. The amended regulation additionally says that Halqa Panchayat shall be required to get its accounts audited by a chartered accountant yearly. Halqa means the realm comprising a village or contiguous variety of villages decided by the federal government.
Also learn: J&{K} govt. offers nod for polls to fill vacant sarpanch posts
Section 10 of the 1989 Act on “remuneration to Sarpanch and Panches,” which stated each Sarpanch and Panch shall be entitled to such month-to-month honorarium as could also be specified by the federal government, has been omitted by an order issued by the MHA on Saturday. Currently, a sarpanch and panch get ₹3,000 and ₹1,000 as honorarium respectively.
A senior J&{K} authorities official instructed Puucho News that the omission is not going to have an effect on the remuneration and the panches will proceed to receives a commission.
“The section has been removed for administrative flexibility, so that when the government wants it can increase the honorarium without amending the whole Act. For now, every time it has to be increased, the Act will have to be amended,” stated the official.
Also learn: Analysis | Change at Jammu and Kashmir helm amid uneasy safety scenario
J&{K} has been underneath central rule since June 2018. The particular standing of the erstwhile State underneath Article 370 was revoked in August 2019 by the Parliament and it was downgraded and bifurcated into two Union Territories, J&{K} and Ladakh. The J&{K} Reorganisation Act, 2019 permits MHA to amend the Union Territory’s legal guidelines by issuing an order.
The panchayat elections had been held within the former State of J&{K} in 2018 and as many as 12,776 vacant sarpanch and panch seats, significantly in South Kashmir are nonetheless vacant as elections couldn’t be held due to safety considerations then. A complete of 27,281 panches and sarpanches had been elected then.
The amended provisions of the 1989 Act say that the Halqa Panchayat could make use of essential workers for finishing up duties however “Halqa Panchayat shall pay remuneration to such staff out of its own resources.”
The modification additionally paves method for creation of District Development Councils within the Union Territory (UT). The DDCs can have jurisdiction over your entire district excluding these areas designated as municipality or municipal company.
“Every district will be divided into 14 territorial constituencies to elect members for the body. The DDC shall consist of the directly elected members from territorial constituencies in the district, members of the Legislative Assembly representing a part or whole of the district whose constituencies lie within the district and the Chairperson of all Block Development Councils of the district,” the order, issued after the amendments, reads.
“All members of the DDC, whether or not elected by direct election from territorial constituencies in the district, shall have the right to vote in the meeting of the District Development Council,” reads the amendments.
“But the MLAs will have no voting rights in the case of election or removal of the Chairman and vice-chairman only the directly elected members shall have the right to vote,” it added.
Valley parties wary
J&K parties are wary of the centre’s move and expressed apprehension over reducing the role of MLAs.
“They (the Centre) empower everyone and everything that’s against the idea of political empowerment. This is a step towards uprooting politics in the name of development. If the Centre is sincere, why has it taken away the right to legislate?” Peoples Democratic Party chief Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra stated.
Shafiq Mir, the chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference, stated, “The move will have an Assembly member just a spectator in the DDC meeting. He will not have any say.”
A National Conference (NC) spokesman stated the occasion was learning the amendments made to the Panchayati Act and “will come up with an informed response soon”.
[ad_2]
