 Ch Rashid Azam Inqlabi
The Jammu and Kashmir Panchyati Raj Act, has been, amended by Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and all Deputy Commissioners of Union Territory have issued notification for three-tier Panchyati Raj system and the delimitation of constituencies, to start the process for District Development Councils (DDCs) like other parts of the country DDCs to be set up soon which is a good step. In 2019 Block Development Councils (BDCs) were constituted .As per notification issued each District Development Council (DDC) for all districts have 14 territorial constituencies, each of which will have a directly elected member and objections, Can be filed upto 24th October.
Section 45 of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, amended and subsection 2 of Section 45-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Raj Act 1989 read with the Rule 108-A (1) and (2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Rules 1996 as amended by S.0. 316 dated 17th October, of Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Jammu and Kashmir requires the entire area of the District Development Council of a district to be divided into 14 single members of territorial constituencies,” the notifications read. “Now, therefore, in terms of Rule 108-A (4) of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Rules 1996, ( Deputy commissioner of respective district) do hereby notify the proposed district development council constituencies along with the territorial limit of each such constituency to this notification for inspection and invite objection if any to the said proposal by on before 23rd October,”
The notifications has been issued by Home department government of India, in haste without applying due diligence and application of mind, which is criticised by many organisations on the ground that all districts irrespective of area and population have been given 14 territorial constituencies. Which is great injustice with the district having highest area and population, for example in district Kishtwar District one member of ( District Development Council) represent the 15416 person, in district Shopian 17846 person, in district Ganderbal 17886, in Samba District 18948 person, in Ramban District 19421 person, in Reasi District 20547 person in Bndipora District 23347 person in Kulgam District 24562 person in Doda District 26946 person in poonch District 31300 person in Udhampur District 31912 person in Pulwama District 34284 person in KathuaDistrict 37623 person in Rajouri District 42150 person in Badgam District 53838 person in Jammu District 54638 person in Kapwara District 54687 person in Anantnag District 56843 person in Baramulla District 58967 person per constituency, which shows discrimination on the face of it.
Where as in rest of the state in India like Rajasthan, Gujrat,Haryana, and neighbouring states Himachal Pradesh the member of zilla parishad or district panchayat constituency created as per population in a particular district. Which vary from district to district, The relevant details is reproduced as under:
According to section 11sub section (4 )of Gujarat panchayati raj act a district panchayat of a district having population not exceeding four lakhs shall consist of eighteen members and in case of a district panchayat where the population of the district exceeds four lakhs, then for every one lakh or part thereof in excess of four lakhs, the said number of eighteen shall be increased by two.
According to section 88, of panchayati raj act of Himachal Pradesh the composition is as under (2) The number of elected members of a Zila Parishad under clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall consist of persons elected from the territorial constituencies in the district as may be notified from time to time by the Government at the rate of one member for every twenty five thousand population or part thereof: Provided that in a district having population of not exceeding. two lakhs and fifty thousand, there shall be minimum of ten elected members in a Zila Parishad: Provided further that the Government may irrespective of the population of the district, declare, by a notification, that the provisions of this section shall apply to a Zila Parishad in a scheduled area, subject to such exceptions and modifications as may be specified by it in such a notification.
Section 150 of panchayati raj act Andhra Prades provides.
“ Division of Mandal into constituencies:- For the purpose of electing the members specified in clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 149, the Commissioner shall, subject to such rules as may be made in this behalf, divide each Mandal Parishad area into as many territorial constituencies as he may, by notification specify, in such manner that, as far as practicable, shall consist of a population ranging between three thousand and four thousand; and that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it shall, as far practicable, be the same throughout the Mandal Parishad area:
Provided that the ratio between the population of the territorial area of a Mandal Parishad and the number of seats in such Parishad to be filled by election shall, as far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.”
Section 119. Of. Panchayati Raj Act of Haryana (1)
The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, determine the number, being not more than thirty and not less than ten of directly elected members from wards keeping in view the total population of the district at the scale of one member for every 40,000 population or part thereof.
(2) For the convenience of election, the Government shall, in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed in this behalf :-
(a) divide a district into wards in such manner, that the population of each ward shall as far as may be practicable, be the same throughout the district:
Provided that the elected members of a Zila Parishad from the wards in the blocks in the district, shall consist of persons to be elected from each block and the wards therein being fixed in accordance with the scale of one member for every forty thousand population or part thereof the population …(b) each ward shall elect one member through direct election in the manner prescribed:
It is clearly shows that in rest of India members of zila parishad or members of District Development Council (DDC) are elected as per population of a particular district. The resident of Jammu and Kashmir also require to be treated at par with other states if not specially.
The executive order, issued under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, every DDC shall consist of the directly elected members from territorial constituencies in the district, chairpersons of all Block Development Councils of the district. The members of the Legislative Assembly whose constituencies lie within the district will also be DDC members when they elected.
After being elected and having sworn in, the members of the DDC elect from amongst themselves the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson of the Council. The MLAs, though members of the DDCs, will not have the powers to elect or remove the chairpersons and vice chairpersons.
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 Council’s meetings. However, in case of election or removal of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman only the directly elected members shall have the right to vote.
The government appears to be inclined to have the DDC elections soon. The processes are running concurrently. In the absence of legislative assembly representatives, the formation of DDCs could strengthen local bodies under which a new power structure will be created in the district.
Earlier in March this year, the Centre announced the delimitation process for reworking the legislative constituencies with the composition of commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai.
The DDC will replace the District Development Board. The term of the DDC shall be five years except for holding common elections to all levels of the Panchayats simultaneously so that all the tiers have co-extensive terms in the district.
The DDC will have powers to prepare plans or monitor activities of departments like fisheries ,agriculture, animal, sheep, and horticulture, consumer affairs, and public distribution, education, forest, health and family welfare, public health engineering, irrigation, flood control, revenue, social welfare, industries and commerce, tourism and rural development.
The three-tier Panchayati Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir will be completed soon. The people of Jammu and Kashmir wants fair deals from government of India as per set procedure of panchyti raj act fully established in others states like, Gujarat ,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajistan, so that peoples don’t feels senses of discrimination. The Home ministry must amend the notifications and DDC members constituency be created as per population of districts so that every Districts will get fair deals. |
