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| Accountability Comm to function as 'Lokayukt' | | Cabinet approves Bill to enhance salaries of Legislators, Ministers | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 2: In what can be seen as a significant step towards strengthening the financial position of the legislators and ministers, the state cabinet today approved a Bill which aims at enhancing their salaries and remuneration by substantial amount from henceforth. The provisions in the Bill which is being tabled during the current session of Assembly, will also take care of the interests of pensioner Legislators whose pension has also been proposed to be hiked accordingly.
In the cabinet meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the state cabinet also approved one more important Bill that intends to make the functioning of State Accountability Commission different than what it used to be till date. Sources said the main provisions focus on separating the category of employees from the purview of the powers of this Act. While the Accountability Commission, which has been set up to check corruption in public offices and public functionaries, the new Bill envisages that from henceforth, the Commission would only address the complaints related to politicians and not employees. While the salaries of Legislators after the hike are expected to be around Rs 60,000, the ministers will have slight edge in having around Rs 5005 more after the Bill gets through in the Legislature. The MLAs under pensioners category would also get around Rs 5000 more than what is their existing pension.
In the new Legislation, the provisions focus on making the functioning of the Commission on the pattern of Lokayukts while monitoring the functioning and addressing the complaints related to politicians, sources said, adding that it will for the first time such an arrangement would be in place in the state to check the menace of corruption.One more Bill that has been approved by the cabinet of the coalition government envisages conversion of State Vigilance Organization into Vigilance Commission on the pattern of Centre, a commitment which Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been making lately in order to check corruption in the state effectively. Through the provisions of this Bill, the Vigilance Commission would become an autonomous institution, unlike the existing arrangement of Vigilance Organisation which is essentially a department and part of the state government. All the employees and other public functionaries found indulging in acts of corruption would be covered under the purview of the provisions and powers of this Commission.
Besides these Bills, the cabinet also gave its approval for the Bill to check Domestic Violence against women in J&K, aimed at enforcing an Act also for the first time in the state. In addition to discussing and giving sanction to these Bills for tabling in the current session, the state cabinet also discussed the proposals of the Budget of state to be presented by the Finance Minister AR Rather on March 12 . The ministers of both the coalition partners discussed the proposals threadbare and also gave their viewpoints and suggestions to be incorporated in the final draft of the Budget. |
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