Are the senior officers of Housing and Urban Development and Rural Development Departments aware of the existence of an Act on creation of separate Finance Commission for the Municipalities and Panchayats of the State? No, they are not, and even the other department, which were supposed to initiate the framing of the Commission, are not aware of the duty they are enjoined to perform. This is the state of Acts passed by the Legislature three years ago. When the departments are unaware of an Act, what progress in the direction of implementation of the Act can be expected? During its Budget Session of 2011, the State Legislature enacted a legislation titled the Jammu and Kashmir State Finance Commission for Panchayats and Municipalities Act and the same was published in the Government Gazette on April 23, 2011 after receiving the assent of the Governor. The main purpose of the Act was to provide financial advice to the Municipalities, regularise taxation, define the shares of each Municipality and plan new taxation etc. The Commission was also empowered to propose financial back up for the Municipalities in the shape of grant-in-aid from the Consolidated Fund of the State. It was to improve the financial health of the Municipalities and help them become financially less dependent.
But alas, what to speak of our Municipalities becoming a beneficiary of the Act, the departments even do not know that an Act exists which they needed to implement. This is how an Act passed by the Legislature is allowed to die and not even to be mourned by anybody.
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