The Bill amends the 2019 J&K Reorganization Act, which bifurcated the former state into the J&K and Ladakh Union Territories.
It seeks to merge the current framework for J&K’s India Services Officers with the framework for Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and the Union Territory (AGMUT). This would allow the government to deposit IAS, IPS officers, etc. from other Union territories to the J&K UT.
The Law, now in effect as an ordinance, was presented by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy, in the House on February 4.
Reason of the Bill,
“In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, there is a major shortage of the officers of All India Services. The construction projects, centrally funded schemes and other related operations suffer because of the unavailability of All India Officers in the existing cadres of the Jammu and Kashmir as such there is a need to integrate it with Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, Union territories cadre to as to the officers in cadre can be sent to Jammu & Kashmir to overcome the deficiency of officers.
Parliament debate,
Many representatives questioned the government during the debate on the Bill about its intentions to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s ‘State’ status.
Significantly, when the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019 abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, the Central Government had promised that it would award J&K statehood after construction works and restoration of normalcy.
Referring to this, Mir Mohd Fayaz, MP for the Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples, said that the new Bill is an effort to further improve the UT framework.
However, the Government believed that the Bill would address the dilemma of All India Service officers in the two UTs and would assist the Government to overcome temporary shortage.
Features,
The Bill aims to amend the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019, Section 88.
This rule prescribed that the members of the Executive Board of IAS, IPS and IFS for the current J&K State will continue to serve on the original Executive Board in the new UT form.
The Bill aims to amend this law to make the current structure part of the regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and the Union. Consequently, all potential allocations to the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union territories of All India Services Officers for the UT of J&K and UT of Ladakh are to be made.
