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| J&K not to incorporate 73rd amendment | | Stage set for govt controlled Panchayats | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 23: With Panchayat elections still a distant dream; Jammu and Kashmir government is in no mood to incorporate provisions of 73rd amendment of Constitution of India into its own Panchayati Raj Act despite union Panchayati Raj ministry's strong recommendations for the same.
Sources said that elections would be held as per the act which is already in force in Jammu and Kashmir. They added that there is no likelihood of state amending the act before going ahead with the Panchayat polls. Sources disclosed that rural development department ministry has already taken the decision of not incorporating provisions enshrined under 73rd amendment.
These provisions if incorporated in the Panchayati Raj Act of the state would ensure complete decentralised governance through Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir. Justice (Retd.) Sagheer in his working group report on centre-state relations has also laid strong stress on incorporating provisions of 73rd amendment in the state Panchayati Raj Act.
However, the rural development ministry which is headed by Ali Mohammed Sagar has while rebuffing the need for incorporating provisions of 73rd amendment in the state Panchayati Raj Act said that a number of provisions which are envisaged in the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992 are already present in the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act-1989 albeit with some variations.
The ministry has further stated that state act does not have provision for constitution of State Finance Commission (SFC) but government has constituted the commission under Jammu and Kashmir State Finance Commission Act-2006. The move is fraught with detrimental implications vis-à-vis functioning of defunct and long dead state controlled ineffective Panchayati Raj system which ceased to exist in August 2006.
Minister for Rural development Ali Mohammed Sagar's office has been issuing official handouts promising early elections to the Panchayats since April 2009 and in the recent days, the ministry has already said that elections would be held by all means in the December 2010. However, the elections are unlikely to change the rural face of Jammu and Kashmir since the Panchayats under the present act would remain powerless.
Not only this, those elected to the Panchayats would remain subservient to bureaucrats and ministers sitting either in the directorate offices or in the civil secretariat due to non-incorporation of provisions of crucial 73rd Amendment Act-1992 in the state legislation. Rural development ministry's stand has brought to light the fact that government does not want to decentralize the powers to grassroot level.
It needs to be mentioned here that contrary to J&K Rural Development ministry's stand, with the inclusion of provisions of 73rd amendment of Indian Constitution pertaining to Panchayati Raj Act, J&K Panchayati Raj Act is an extremely weak act since it does not empower the Panchayats in the manner in which the same is required.
Without the inclusion of provisions of 73rd amendment, state act has no powers to completely democratise the constitution, funding and administration of Panchayats. Not only this, state act has no provision for constitution of independent State Finance Commission (SFC). Besides, the state act has no provision for holding elections for the selection of Chairman of District Planning and Development Board.
73rd amendment makes elections for the three tiers mandatory. Under the act which is applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, government has the powers to remove chairperson and members of Panchayati Adalat. However, if the 73rd amendment provisions are incorporated, government losses these powers. State act also does not provide for independent Zilla Panchayat.
73rd amendment also recommends activity mapping for laying out the functions of three tiers of Panchayats and the manner in which they would synchronise with respect to each of the subject devolved to these institutions. Besides, there is no reservation for Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes and Women for the offices of chairperson in the Panchayats as prescribed under the central legislation.
There is no independent State Election Commission for conducting elections to Panchayats and local bodies. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir is empowered under the act to operate as election authority for conduct of such elections. There is no separate Panchayati Raj department in the state for carrying out functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions. Rural Development Department is the governing body responsible for execution and implementation of all the activities of Panchayats.
It needs to be reiterated here that Panchayats have been defunct for the past four years since they were dissolved in the year 2006 after the expiry of the first term. Panchayats came into being in the year 2001 after a gap of 23 years and lasted a period of five years.
Later, delimitation of Panchayats was carried out and after delimitation; number of Panchayats rose to 4139 as compared to the 2700 Panchayats in the year 2001. On the other side, due to state's inability to conduct elections on time, it lost Rs. 229.17 crore awarded to Jammu and Kashmir by 12th Finance Commission. |
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