Concerns of stakeholders remain unaddressed
Act continues to be implemented through outdated Rules
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 10: Over one year has passed since the Government of the Union Territory notified the draft Jammu and Kashmir Tourist Trade Rules, 2024, yet the same have not been finalized till date, resulting in continued implementation of the J&K Registration of Tourist Trade Act through the outdated Rules. Moreover, due to inordinate delay the concerns of the stakeholders have remained unaddressed much to their disappointment.
The Jammu and Kashmir Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1978 was enacted to regulate and promote the business of hotels, dealers and travel agents and to safeguard the interests of tourists. The Act empowers the Government to make Rules for its effective implementation under Section 50.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
According to Section 50(1) of the Act, “The Government may, by notification in the Government Gazette, make Rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.” Further, Sub-Section (2) states that Rules may provide for maintenance of registers, books and forms by hotel-keepers, dealers or travel agents; the form of application and certificate of registration; fee for registration; manner of giving notices under the Act; classification of hotels and travel agents; qualifications for registration as travel agents; publication of names of hotels or agents removed from or refused registration; manner in which dealers, hotels or travel agents shall be blacklisted and their names published etc.
In exercise of these powers, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, through the Tourism Department, issued a notification on July 30, 2024, publishing the draft Jammu and Kashmir Tourist Trade Rules as required under Sub-Section (3) of Section 50.
The notification stated that the draft Rules were being made public “for the information of all persons likely to be affected thereby”, and that these would be taken into consideration after the expiry of 15 days from the date the copies of the Official Gazette were made available to the public.
However, despite the lapse of over a year, the Rules have not yet been finalized or notified in their final form, official sources told EXCELSIOR. They added that “the most astonishing fact is that there has been no discussion at the official level on the draft Rules or on the suggestions and objections received from the stakeholders over the past several months, as a result of which the draft has been gathering dust in the official files”.
“Due to this, the Act continues to be implemented through the Jammu and Kashmir Tourist Trade Rules, which were framed nearly 47 years ago”, sources said, adding that these rules are outdated and fail to address present-day tourism realities such as online travel operations, digital registration systems and modern classification standards for hotels and agents.
The draft Tourist Trade Rules, 2024 were aimed at modernizing and streamlining several aspects of tourism regulation. “The delay not only hampers the ease of doing business but also undermines the intent of the Government to bring in reforms and update regulatory frameworks in one of J&K’s most crucial economic sectors”, sources said.
“After analyzing the draft Rules, the stakeholders had put forward a series of suggestions aimed at refining the proposed Rules to better align them with the needs of the industry, while ensuring sustainability and maintaining high standards,” they said, adding, “the Government should have held deliberations with all stakeholders to finalize the Rules. But sleeping over the suggestions and objections is a testimony to official apathy”.
They further questioned, “what was the objective of formulating draft Rules if these were not to be finalized after taking all stakeholders on board?” The sources expressed hope that the Government would “wake up from its deep slumber” and take steps toward the finalization of the Rules.
When contacted, certain officers of the Tourism Department, wishing anonymity, confirmed that no discussions have been held on the finalization of the draft Rules during the past several months.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
