Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 21: Making a veiled attack on Coalition Government in the State, the Chairperson of National Commission on Minorities, Wajahat Habibullah said that nothing was done for empowerment of Panchayats by the Government so far except the hollow announcements.
Mr Habibullah was the chief gust at a three day national seminar held at Jammu University here this afternoon on Devolution of Powers in J&K. The seminar was jointly organised by the Dean Research Studies and PG Department of Sociology University of Jammu and Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR). The seminar was presided over by Prof Mohan Pal Singh Ishar, Vice Chancellor University of Jammu. It will conclude on November 23.
Mr Habibullah a former Chief Information Commissioner, while taking the Government to task for its failure to constitute an independent Election Commission for Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir said “except J&K all States have their independent Election Commission’’.
He said the 73rd Amendment of Indian Constitutions enshrines an independent Election Commission for Panchayats while this provision is not available in the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act 1989. He also strongly advocated for an independent and autonomous State Finance Commission which can decide what financial powers need to be devolved to the Panchayats.
Mr Habibullah in his remarks stated that 73rd and 74th Amendments played a major role in the decentralization of power. He also elaborated the meaning of democracy, Halqa Majlis and Gram Sabhas and threw light on functional democracy in 21st century.
While highlighting the contribution of District Development Board in J&K, he stressed on their restructuring.
Stressing on regularity in the conduct of Panchayat elections after a gap of every five years, he said the Panchayat elections, which are executived at grassroots level, should be held regularly after a gap of five years. “The non-conduct of timely elections has rendered Panchayats defunct and all powers remained with Block Development Offices which become epicenter of corruption across the country,” he added.
Targeting the State Government for not devolving judicial powers to the Panchayats he said devolving of the judicial powers to Panchayats is must to make these institutions effective at grassroots level.
Favoring people’s participation in governance, he said the largest principle and objective of a functional democracy is the public participation in governance where the people have a say and they are responsible for governance. “The democracy is for the people, by the people and of the people’’, he added.
In his keynote address, Professor Balveer Arora from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) threw light on multilevel federalism. Professor Mohan Paul Singh Ishar, Vice-Chancellor University of Jammu made his presidential remarks while Sushobha Bharve, executive director CDR briefed about her Centre and seminar series being organised by it.
Earlier, Professor Rekha Choudhary, Dean Research Studies, University of Jammu made introductory remarks. Professor Abha Chauhan, head, Sociology Department, Jammu University welcomed the gathering.
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