The Centre has significantly strengthened the authority of the Lieutenant Governor in Jammu and Kashmir, empowering him to make decisions on crucial matters such as police, and all-India services officers and granting sanctions for prosecution in various cases.
The Opposition slammed the Union Government’s move and termed it a step towards “disempowering” the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Home Ministry gave more powers to the L-G on Friday by amending rules framed under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. This Act, passed alongside the abrogation of Article 370, bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
In the past, proposals concerning police, public order, all-India services and the Anti-Corruption Bureau required approval from the finance department of Jammu and Kashmir before reaching the L-G.
Under the revised rules, such proposals must now be presented directly to the L-G through the Chief Secretary of the Union Territory.
The LG’s authority extends further to the appointment of the Advocate-General and other law officers. These appointments, previously decided upon by the government, will now require the L-G’s approval.
The National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) labelled the decision as a step towards “disempowering” the people of Jammu and Kashmir while the Congress condemned the move as a “murder of democracy”. The Apni Party called for a unified protest against the decision.
NC Vice President Omar Abdullah said the people of Jammu and Kashmir deserve better than a “powerless, rubber stamp” chief minister who will have to beg the Lieutenant Governor to get a peon appointed.The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, however, said the move was “another indicator that elections are around the corner in J&K”.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter and her media advisor, Iltija Mufti, said the order seeks to disempower the powers of an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir. “At a time when there’s been considerable speculation about GOI holding elections in J&K this new MHA order & farmaan widening the already unbridled powers of an unelected LG make a few things abundantly clear,” Iltija Mufti said in a post on X.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Vikar Rasool Wani termed the move a “murder of democracy”.