Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 26: State Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah at Civil Secretariat this evening, accorded sanction to the roll out of National Mission for Empowerment of Women in Jammu and Kashmir and incorporation of amendments in the framework of Voluntary Retirement/Golden Handshake Scheme to avoid its misuse. However, the Law Department took back its memorandum regarding amendments in the Criminal Laws while as Transfer Policy of the Education Department was deferred for examination by the General Administration and Law Departments.
Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that Law Department took back its memorandum regarding amendments in the Jammu and Kashmir Criminal Laws in order to bring the proposed amendments at par with the law enacted by the Parliament recently.
The Law Department had prepared the draft amendments on the basis of Criminal Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013. However, the Parliament enacted the law by affecting some changes in the provisions contained in the Ordinance. “Now the Law Department will prepare fresh draft in consonance with the Central Act”, sources said.
They disclosed that Cabinet deferred the Transfer Policy prepared by the Education Department on the directions of the Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand, who is also the Minister In-charge School Education Department.
“It was observed in the Cabinet that since State is already having transfer policy bringing separate policy for one particular department would amount to creating confusion”, sources said, adding “while deferring the proposal the Cabinet asked the General Administration and Law Departments to examine the policy prepared by the Education Department and see whether there was any justification for the same”.
According to the sources, Cabinet gave nod to the roll out of National Mission for Empowerment of Women in the State through the J&K Women Empowerment Society. The Mission was launched by the Union Government in order to bring all the women centric programmes of different ministries and departments under one roof for convergence.
“Since actual convergence among schemes and programmes need to take place at the State, District and Sub-District levels, State Mission Authority headed by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has already been established to oversee and undertake convergence activities”, sources said, adding focus areas of the Mission are to access to health, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities by women, coverage of all girls especially those belonging to vulnerable groups in schools from primary to class 12th, higher and professional education for girls/women, skill development, micro credit, vocational training, entrepreneurship, self help group development, general sensitization and dissemination of information and prevention of crime against women and taking steps for a safe environment for women.
As per the guidelines of Union Government, State Government has already registered a society under the name and style of J&K Women Empowerment Society, which will establish State Resource Centre for Women so that funds could flow to it directly from the Central Government.
The State Resource Centre will spearhead the activities of the Mission in the State for holistic empowerment of women. It will facilitate implementation of gender sensitive programmes, laws and schemes through effective coordination. The Resource Centre will conduct review meetings at different level to ensure effective monitoring of convergence efforts at the grass-root level.
Sources said that Cabinet also accorded sanction to the incorporation of amendments in the framework of Voluntary Retirement/Golden Handshake Scheme which was launched to shed the surplus staff in the Public Sector Undertakings and place the units on the road to recovery.
Keeping in view misuse of the scheme, the Government felt the need to modify its existing contours and now the amendments proposed by the Finance Department have received the nod of the Cabinet.
As per the amendments, the employees must have been in regular service of the PSU continuously for not less than 10 years to avail the benefit of scheme and 50% period of service rendered as work charged/DRW prior to regularization will be reckoned only for determining the eligibility and not towards calculation of benefits under scheme.
Moreover, each PSU will have to identify surplus personnel having not less than three years left over service before the normal date of superannuation in the case of units having the prospect of becoming viable and less than one year left over service in case of closed units, totally unviable including those identified by Kundal Committee with a pre-determined time frame and offer them GH indicating the target date for availing the same failing which they would be liable to be disengaged. Such exercise should be completed in all respects latest by June 30, 2013 beyond which scheme will cease to exist.
According to the amendments cleared by the Cabinet, unreleased instalments of COLA by corporations will also be deemed to have been released in respect of employees opting for VRS/GHS and payment of COLA/DA in respect of in-service employees will be entirely dependent on the resource position of the corporation.
Under the new contours, the scheme will not confer any right on any employee to have request for VR accepted by the management and the competent authority will have the right either to accept or reject the request of any employee.
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