Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Jan 25:  Top leadership of Congress party today held detailed deliberations with All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief, Sonia Gandhi over the emerging political situation in the State, particularly in view of the strained relations with their coalition partner over the issue of formation of new administrative units.
Top Congress sources told EXCELSIOR the meeting which was held for around 40 minutes and was attended by top leaders of the party, who are involved in the decision making process for all issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, the trusted lieutenant of the AICC President, the meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir in charge, Ambika Soni; Union Health Minister and former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress (JKPCC) president, Saif-ud-Din Soz.
Sources emphasised that the meeting held detailed discussion on all issues confronting the Congress-NC coalition Government in the State. “The gamut of issues including the recent confrontation on the issue of administrative units, implementation of 73rd and 74th amendment, relief measures for refugees and  Food Security Bill came up for discussion in the meeting”, sources added.
Though participants in the meeting remained tight-lipped over the details of meeting, sources asserted, “the meeting also discussed the issue of pre-poll alliance in view of the forthcoming Parliamentary and Assembly elections in the State. There was unanimity among all participants that any decision regarding the formation of pre-poll alliance would only be taken based on inputs obtained from the Congress leadership in the State”, adding, “the decision would be based on the assessment of the political situation in the State”.
Setting at rest rumours that the recent meeting between the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah and AICC President on January 21 had set the stage for formation of an alliance, sources asserted, “no final decision has been taken in this regard and several rounds of discussion are going to take place before coming to any conclusion”.
On the ticklish issue of constitution of administrative units, Congress leaders were of the opinion that the party should avoid any confrontation with National Conference at this stage. “However, the Congress leadership was supportive of the idea of covering all representations received from various district headquarters of the State and wanted that no decision should be taken in haste”, sources emphasized, adding, “before coming to any conclusion, it should be made sure that no region remained unrepresented in the Cabinet Sub-Committee (CSC)”.
To diffuse the situation further, sources stated that there was every likelihood of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on administrative units being headed by Tara Chand finally submitting its recommendations by the deadline of January 31 set by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah.
Regarding the issue of incorporation of 73rd Amendment in the State Panchayati Raj Act, the leaders felt that the decision had been delayed on one pretext or the other by its alliance partners. “Congress party has been in favour of decentralisation of power to the grass root level and would like to see the incorporation of amendments as early as possible”, sources said.
“The high-level meeting also assessed the situation pertaining to status of other issues like settlement of West Pak, PoK and other refugees and Food Security Bill”, sources remarked.
Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, when contacted about the details of meeting said, “there was nothing in particular regarding Jammu and Kashmir and consultation with the party chief was a regular process”.
On the issue of administrative units, he said, “the Cabinet Sub-Committee (CSC)under stewardship of Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand is working in the right direction and it was wise decision to visit all the district headquarters and interact with people on ground”.
“The objective should be that no area in Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir region should feel that they weren’t consulted in the process.  Ganai Committee was only an official Committee and had failed to interact with people across the State like the CSC”, he added.
Favouring an amicable solution to the impasse among the Coalition partners, the former Chief Minister said, “getting emotional or angry wouldn’t lead to resolution of the problem. The issue has to be sorted out amicably by sitting across the table”.
Azad, who as Chief Minister created eight new districts in his tenure in 2006 as Chief Minister said, “justice should be done to all regions of the State and time shouldn’t become constraint in coming to the final conclusion”.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 25: Governor  N  N  Vohra  today said that the establishment of Panchayati Raj and the corresponding devolutions in the arena of municipal administration would lead to the establishment of a decentralized democratic framework at the grass root level in the entire State.
He observed that this shall provide an exciting opportunity for all our people living in the villages and towns to become closely and productively involved in planning and implementing various developmental schemes and programmes which promote their interests.
Greeting the people on the 65th Republic Day, in a message, the Governor observed that effective establishment of rural and urban self-governing bodies in each of the three regions of the State would be a milestone in the governance of J&K.
“I have strongly believed and consistently stressed that the empowerment of the people at the grass root level and enabling Panchayats to effectively participate in the planning and implementation of development programmes would result in promoting the welfare of the entire rural population. I have been stressing that the conduct of elections to the Urban Local Bodies, which had been planned to be done a considerable time ago, and implementation of various pending institutional and taxation reforms, would result in invigorating the entire municipal administrative framework and go a long way in establishing a democratic self-governing framework in all the towns and cities”, said the Governor and hoped that these very long awaited elections and other institutional reforms shall be carried out in the coming months.
Observing that the elections to the Parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly are scheduled to be held in the coming months, the Governor said that the electoral contests held in 2008 and 2009 and the Panchayat polls in 2011 had witnessed a very high turnout of the voters and hoped that the forthcoming polls shall see the maximum number of voters exercising their franchise.
While remembering the great national leaders in the freedom struggle, the Governor also paid tribute to the State and the Central Police Forces and the Army for their unflinching devotion to duty and paid homage to the brave officers and men who laid down their lives to protect and preserve the country’s territorial integrity.
“Our country has travelled a fairly long distance since Independence and the journey, on many occasions, has been quite difficult. Thanks to the devoted endeavours of our enlightened leaders in the initial years, significant strides were taken towards building the unity and integrity of the nation and imbibing our polity with strong secular foundations,” he said.
“While considerable progress has been achieved on varied fronts it is a matter for serious concern that, over the past years, divisive forces and fissiparous tendencies have started raising their heads in various parts of the country,” Mr Vohra said and lamented that our societies are showing increasing intolerance and getting divided on the basis of religion and narrow linguistic, caste and other loyalties. As a consequence, we are witnessing religious and caste tensions and communal violence, which are generating an environment of turbulence, he said.  Side by side, there has been a progressive decline in our ethical codes and values in virtually every sphere and this has led to governance being marred by growing complaints of corruption, he added.
The Governor said “notwithstanding the alarming bells from varied quarters it is our great good fortune that the democratic system is now deeply rooted and firmly established all across the country. Thanks to the revolution in information technology, our billion and a quarter people are politically conscious and aware of their democratic rights. This awakening has led to our citizens rightly demanding, more and more aggressively, the satisfaction of their various needs ? shelter, food, water, electricity, roads, schools, hospitals and employment”.
The Governor observed that it is not unlikely that the winds of change blowing across the country would also influence the affairs of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and we may have to face varied challenges. Terrorism and militancy, which commenced in 1990, have resulted in large human and economic losses and caused prolonged miseries for the common man. The long period of unrest has also adversely affected the functioning of the administrative machinery and public institutions, and the erstwhile work culture and efficiencies have been seriously eroded.  It is necessary to fill up this gap and regain the required momentum. As we are witnessing all around, the people at large are getting increasingly impatient and restive and are no longer willing to bear with defaults and deficiencies in the functioning of public delivery systems, much less accept the continuance of corrupt practices.
The Governor observed that despite certain constraints, the State was able to achieve a growth rate of 6.14 percent during 2012-13, which is higher than the national average. However, for Jammu and Kashmir to forge ahead on a sustained basis we need to do much better and systematically tackle several serious challenges, particularly the problems of unemployment and the acute shortage of power in Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
The Governor said that if satisfactory growth and development is to be achieved, it is of crucial importance that all the three regions of the State and the various difficult areas in each region are well connected with a reliable network of roads, bridges and tunnels.
The Governor conveyed warm greetings and good wishes to the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and prayed that the New Year, which has already dawned, shall bring sustained peace, normalcy and prosperity in all parts of the State.

Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, Jan 25: To further strengthen the working of High Court, Chief Justice in consultation with State Government has initiated the process for filling up vacancies of Judges.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that the High Court collegium comprising Chief Justice, M Kumar, Justice Virender Singh and Justice Yaqoob Mir has sent its recommendations for filling up of four vacant posts.
“As per the convention, all the remaining four vacant posts in the High Court are to be filled by members from lawyer fraternity and the recommendations have been made keeping in mind this aspect”, sources said, “the recommendations include names of  Neeru Goswami, Deputy Advocate General, Advocate Sanjeev Shukla, Javed Ahmad Kawoosa, Senior Additional Advocate General and Advocate Nazir Ahmad Baig”.
While High Court authorities and State Government officials are tight lipped over the entire matter, sources confirmed that the recommendations had been made few days back.
“Copy of the recommendations has been sent to the Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah”, sources asserted.
It is pertinent to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir High Court has total strength of 14 Judges and at present there are 10 incumbents including Chief Justice. The sanctioned strength includes 9 Permanent Judges and five Additional Judges.
These are Chief Justice M M Kumar, Justice Virender Singh, Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Justice Hasnain Massodi, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Bansi Lal Bhat and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal.
Three vacancies were created after the retirement of former Judges including Justice Pramod Kohli, Justice Sunil Hali and Justice J P Singh. Another vacancy was created when retired High Court Judge Hakeem Imtiyaz Hussain’s younger brother and a prominent law publisher Advocate Hakeem Ishtiyaz Hussain died a day after his name was cleared and recommended by the Collegium of State High Court in June 2012.
The filling up of four vacant posts of High Court Judges would go a long way in bringing down pendency of cases, sources said, adding presently thousands of cases are pending in Jammu and Srinagar wings of the High Court because of shortage of Judges.
In March last year five Judges were appointed simultaneously for the first time in the history of State judiciary.
According to laid down convention, the process of appointment of Judges in High Court is initiated by the respective Chief Justices.
“A person should have practised at least 10 years as a lawyer to become a High Court judge. The Chief Justice of the High Court, with the help of two other senior-most judges, draws up a panel of prospective candidates. There is no system of public intimation or advertisements eliciting applications for the posts. After examining the credentials of the prospective  candidates on factors such as competence, integrity and State intelligence inputs, the High Court Chief Justice forwards the names of the prospective judges to the CJI for confirmation”, sources remarked.
The CJI consults the collegium of four other senior-most judges of the apex court. The CJI and the collegium can approve or reject the names.
If the collegium approves the names, they are sent to the President of India through the Union Government for appointments.

Gun is no solution to any problem

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 25: Describing 2014 as significant  for the State as both Parliamentary and Assembly elections are being held this year, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has appealed the people to exercise their right to vote in large numbers adding that boycotts in the past have done no good to the people and these will do no good in future also.
In his message on Republic Day eve, the Chief Minister said that peace is of paramount importance to carry forward development and resolve all issues in an atmosphere of amity. “Gun is no answer to any problem and wars have never solved any issue but created many,” he said.
Omar  referred to his repeated efforts during the last five years to facilitate internal and external dialogue on political issues confronting Jammu and Kashmir and reiterated the need of restoring the process of dialogue between India and Pakistan and the particular political groups in State and the Centre so that issues are addressed in a peaceful and political manner.
Making reference of the completion of five years of his Government, the Chief Minister said that remarkable progress has been achieved both on peace and development fronts during this period. “Though a lot has been done yet we have to do more towards achieving permanent peace and moving ahead on road to prosperity”, he added.
Giving glimpses of the five years major achievements registered by his Government in various fields, particularly in the fields of rozgar, bijlee, pani, sadak, sehat aur taleem (employment generation, power, drinking water, road communication, health and education),
Omar Abdullah  said that during the last five years about one lakh youth have been provided employment in Government departments. Employment being a global phenomenon needs multi-faceted approach to address, he added.
The Chief Minister said that his Government placed power development sector in the priority list and recognized it as the most important sector to ensure necessary turn around in the State’s economic condition. He said power is the sector which can strengthen the State’s economic health and lift it from the deficit level State to the economically self-reliant level. He said necessary edifice has been laid to generate 9000 MWs of hydro energy in the State in next eight years.
The Chief Minister also mentioned enactment of Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), Re-constitution of Accountability Commission, constitution of Right to Information Commission, establishment of Vigilance Commission to give impetus to the transparency and bring Government functioning under full public scan.
Omar  said that the progress on development front has been possible by the peace and normality which showed gradual improvement during the last five years. Restoration of peace has helped in roping in large number of tourists in the State during the last five years, he added.
The Chief Minister  referred to the return of Kashmiri Pandits and said that his Government has taken initiatives to create conducive and secure atmosphere for their return. He said economic packages like employment to the youth of Kashmiri Pandits are also under implementation. 1500 boys and girls of KPs have been given jobs in the Valley and the State Government has submitted a special economic scheme for the rehabilitation of KPs to the Central Government, he informed.
The Chief Minister also mentioned the Rehabilitation Policy and said that 380 youth have returned under this policy. He said his Government would continue to help rehabilitation and return of youth from PoK who have not indulged in any violence and intend to live peaceful and normal life in the society.
The Chief Minister prayed for peace, prosperity and progress of the State and the Country and well-being of the people. He concluded his speech with this couplet – BUS TUM MERI AWAZ SEY AWAZ MILA DO, PHIR DEKH IS SHAHR MAIN KYA HO NAHI SAKTA.