Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 18: State Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah this morning, placed the services of 1977 batch IAS officer of J&K Cadre Madhav Lal at the disposal of Union Government and appointed Financial Commissioner, Finance Department, Mohammad Iqbal Khanday as new Chief Secretary of the State.
Madhav Lal was recently appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, who was promoted to the Fixed Scale of IAS in the month of November last year and appointed as Chief Secretary today, is the 11th State Subject appointed to the top slot after Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, P N Koul, Syed Muzaffar Aga, Noor Muhammad, Mir Nasrullah, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, S S Bloeria, Vijay Bakaya, C Phunsog and B R Kundal.
Mr Khandey, who has served the State in various capacities, would have tenure of nearly three years as he would attain age of superannuation in November 2015.
Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, B B Vyas will hold the charge of the Finance Department in addition to his own duties till further orders.
The Cabinet also approved enhancement of honorarium from existing rate of Rs 1500 per month for first two years and Rs 2000 per month for next three years to single tier of Rs 3000 per month in favour of ReT teachers.
At present the total annual financial implication of honorarium is Rs 49.26 crore for approximately 20813 ReT teachers. The additional financial implications after revision has been worked out at Rs 25.67 crore of which total additional burden on the State exchequer would be around Rs 8.98 crore. The remaining burden would be shared by the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
The increase in the honorarium was felt expedient due to the reason that honorarium has not been revised till date despite spiral inflation and exclusion of ReT guides for the revision of their honorarium despite revisions in the minimum wages under Minimum Wages Act and implementation of the 6th Pay Commission for the State Government employees.
The Cabinet also approved the establishment of State Bio-diversity Board. Chief Secretary will be the chairperson of the Biodiversity Board while as Administrative Secretaries of Forest and Agriculture Production Departments, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden would be its members. Director, State Forest Research Institute would be Member Secretary of the Board.
The Board would advise the State Government on matters relating to conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources. The Board would also regulate by granting approvals for commercial utilization for bio-survey and bio-utilization of any biological resource.
The Cabinet also accorded sanction for reconstituting of Cabinet Sub Committee to examine the recommendations of the Working Group-V headed by S Sagir Ahmad regarding strengthening relation between the State and the Centre.
The Cabinet Sub Committee will comprise of Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs as Chairman, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Minister for Sports and Youth Services, Minister for Urban Development and Local Bodies, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Minister for CAPD and Transport, Minister for Planning & Development, Labour and Employment, Minister for Housing, Horticulture and Culture as Members.
This was imperative as the portfolios of some Ministers including some members of the Cabinet Sub-Committee have been changed while some new Ministers have been inducted in the Council of Ministers.
The Cabinet also approved adjustment/absorption of surplus staff of Integrated Rural Energy Programme (IREP) Science and Technology Department in some other departments, revised financial delegation of works to be allotted to Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC). Now all civil works costing more than Rs 700 lakh as against Rs 100 lakh will be allotted to the JKPCC in respect of all Government Departments and Government Corporations.
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