Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 29: The members of the District Development Council (DDC), Budgam have passed a resolution terming the recent formation of the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) as “illegal” while seeking action against the DDC Chairperson of the district.
In a resolution signed by 13 members of the Council, it has been alleged that they came to know through a Facebook post of DDC Chairperson Budgam, Nazir Ahmed Khan, that a Biodiversity Committee of district Budgam was already in place with the RTI activist, Raja Muzaffar Bhat, as its Chairman.
“The post is on the Facebook handle of the DDC Chairperson Budgam, posted around 11 am on July 23, 2022. The news came as a shocker as the decision was solely taken by the DDC Chairperson …for his vested interests without involving any DDC Member in the process of formation of the Biodiversity management committee,” the resolution states.
The members have also put it on record that none of them have ever been informed of the process and no meeting has been held to elect/nominate DDC members for the Biodiversity Management Committee.
The resolution, while noting what has been stated in the Biodiversity Act 2002 said that as per the law, the Biodiversity Management Committee as constituted under sub-rule (1) shall consist of Chairperson and not more than six persons nominated by the local body, of whom not less than one third should be women and not less than 18% should belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes.
The Act also states that the Chairperson of the Biodiversity Management Committee shall be elected from amongst the members of the committee in the meeting to be chaired by the chairperson of the local body.
“The move thus is shady, undemocratic, unethical, and fraudulent and calls for a disciplinary action against the DDC Chairperson Budgam Nazir Ahmed Khan and the members and chairperson of the illegally formed Biodiversity Management Committee of Budgam,” the resolution reads.
The members have rejected the illegal formation of the Biodiversity Management Committee Budgam and its Chairperson as well as the Chairmanship of Nazir Ahmed Khan while seeking a fresh election for the chairman through an open ballot.
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