Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 28: The PDP-BJP Coordination Committee will hold its second meeting tomorrow just a couple of days before when the coalition Government will complete three months in the office with appointments of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons of various Corporations and Boards high on the agenda apart from review of three month performance of the Government.
Deputy Chief Minister and Coordination Committee chairman Dr Nirmal Singh will preside over 10 members Coordination Committee meeting at 7 pm in Srinagar, the summer capital of the State, tomorrow.
Dr Singh told the Excelsior that the Coordination Committee will take up series of issues including performance of the Government, which would complete three months on June 1.
“We will discuss the achievements, the works done in past three months, our immediate priorities, arrangements for Amarnath yatra, tourists in the summer in entire State and various other issues. The members can also voice the issues for consideration of the Coordination Committee,’’ he said, adding that progress on the issues taken up in the first Coordination Committee meeting held in Jammu on March 28 will also be reviewed.
Dr Singh said the Coordination Committee will also discuss filling up of the vacancies in several Corporations and Boards. The posts of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons were lying vacant after National Conference and Congress leaders ceased to be heads of the Corporations/ Boards following exit of their Government.
On April 20, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had appointed Independent MLA from Zanskar Syed Bakir Rizvi as Vice Chairman of Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) and Daljeet Singh Chib as Vice Chairman of Advisory Board for Development of Kissans. Both had been given the rank of Ministers of State. Rizvi had been the Board member from the PDP quota and Chib from the BJP.
Official sources said the Coordination Committee would consider names for other such bodies including Social Welfare Advisory Board, SC/ST Welfare Board, Other Backward Classes (IBC) Commission, State Women Commission, Pahari Welfare Board, Gujjars and Bakerwals Welfare Board etc.
All these posts of Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons would be equally shared by the PDP and BJP, sources said, adding that some Chairpersons/Vice Chairpersons could hold rank of the Cabinet while others may get the status of Ministers of State.
Appointments to some other bodies could also figure in the Coordination Committee meeting. The posts of Chairpersons and Members of State Accountability Commission (SAC) and State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) were lying vacant for past quite some time. In budget session of the Legislature, the Government had approved amendments in the Acts increasing age limit for appointment as Chairpersons and Members of the SAC and SHRC.
The BJP members in the Coordination Committee included Dr Nirmal Singh, Deputy Chief Minister, Incharge Power Development Department, Housing and Urban Development, Jugal Kishore Sharma, State party president, Thupstan Chhewang, Lok Sabha member from Ladakh, Shamsher Singh, Rajya Sabha member and Health and Medical Education Minister Choudhary Lal Singh.
The PDP members comprised party president Mehbooba Mufti, Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hamid Qarra, the two Lok Sabha members, Haj and Auqaf Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri and Education Minister Naeem Akhter.
Sources said apart from discussions on performance of three months of the Government, filling up of vacancies in Corporations and Boards, the Coordination Committee would also discuss steps required to further improve working of the Government, strategy to woo tourists during summer in all three regions of the State and arrangements for annual Amarnath pilgrimage.
“The Coordination Committee will also review progress on the decisions taken by it in its first meeting held at Jammu on March 28,’’ sources said.
Important decisions that were taken by the Committee in the first meeting were devising transparent and fair recruitment policy and transfer policy, do away with practice of arbitrary and discretionary engagements even in temporary/contractual arrangements in Government departments and Public Sector Undertakings, making touring of officers mandatory to improve governance and ensure redressal of public grievances at the grass root level, introducing various pioneering initiatives aimed at general reforms in governance, establishing efficient systems and strengthening institutions of deliverance and probity, short, medium and long-term interventions and reforms at various levels in the Government and the delivery of governance so that the landmark initiatives enumerated in the PDP-BJP coalition’s Agenda of Alliance are implemented in time-bound manner.
The previous Committee meeting had also decided that the Government would instantaneously do away with red-tape in issuance of revenue documents including State subject certificates etc and the same would be issued in a time-bound manner. It had voiced concern over traffic congestion especially in the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar, and on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
The meeting had decided that educational and healthcare institutions, especially in the remote areas of the State, would be made fully functional through rationalization and deployment of staff. It had decided that the Government would regulate the mechanism for issuance of licenses and permits to prevent mushrooming of unauthorized institutions in education and other sectors.
Meanwhile, a Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) constituted by the Government on controversial New Recruitment Policy headed by Dr Nirmal Singh has decided to put the Policy in public domain to invite suggestions and objections from the people.
“The Policy is being put to public domain in a day or two for suggestions and objections from the people,’’ he said.
With this, the CSC is likely to miss deadline of June 1 given to it by the Cabinet for reporting back on the Policy as the CSC would give some time to the people for objections and suggestions, sources said, adding it will prepare report only after receiving the suggestions.
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