*State Cabinet to take decisions today
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 5: PDP-BJP Coalition Government has decided to amend the Jammu and Kashmir State Accountability Commission Act in order to increase the tenure of Chairperson and Members of this vital Commission and a Bill in this regard to be introduced in the State Legislature during the ongoing Budget Session would be cleared by the State Cabinet tomorrow. Moreover, the Cabinet would also give nod to the proposal seeking increase in the tenure of Vice-Chancellors of Kashmir and Jammu Universities by two years.
Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that as desired by the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and agreed to by the alliance partner—Bharatiya Janata Party, the Law Department has drafted a Bill seeking amendment in the State Accountability Commission Act, 2002. The Bill would be cleared for introduction in the State Legislature by the Cabinet, which is meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister tomorrow at 1 pm at Civil Secretariat here.
By way of this amendment, the Government would increase the tenure of the Chairperson of State Accountability Commission and its Members to five years from the date on which they enter upon office. Moreover, they shall continue to be Chairperson and Members of the Commission for a period of five years or until they attain the age of 78 years, whichever is earlier.
The present Act states that the Chairperson and every other Member shall hold office as such for a term of three years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.
In reply to a question, sources said, “this is being done to increase the zone of consideration and would help the Government in appointing more appropriate persons for the head and members of Accountability Commission, which has a vital role to play in checking menace of corruption”.
They said that process for appointment of new Chairperson and Members of Accountability Commission, which is completely defunct since the retirement of last incumbents in August last year, would be initiated soon after the passage of Amendment Bill by the State Legislature.
It is pertinent to mention here that Chairperson and Members of the Commission are appointed by the Governor by warrant under his hand and seal on the recommendations of a committee consisting of Chief Minister (Chairman), Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Chief Justice of State High Court, Law Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly (all members). If there is no Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, the leader of the single largest party in the Opposition is deemed to be the member of the Committee.
According to the sources, Cabinet is also likely to give nod to the proposal seeking enhancement in the tenure of the Vice-Chancellors of Universities of Kashmir and Jammu. “At present, the tenure of the Vice-Chancellors is three years and Government wants it to be five years”, they added.
Sources disclosed that Cabinet has already, by way of circulation, given nod to the introduction of Bill seeking extension in the applicability of Jammu and Kashmir Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act till December 31, 2015. “This is being done in view of delay in framing of a comprehensive policy to deal with unauthorized constructions in Jammu, Srinagar and Katra”, they added.
The J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2014 was enacted after the State High Court passed stringent directions to tackle unauthorized constructions. By way of this Act, the Government had imposed moratorium on action against such structures on the ground that Government would come up with a policy to deal with or regulate unauthorized constructions, which will be in consonance with the Master Plan.
Though the term of the Act came to an end on March 31, 2015, the Government could not come up with the policy despite deliberations upon the issue by way of constituting several committees, sources said, adding “the policy could not be finalized because Master Plan of Jammu is yet to go through the public objections stage while as that of Srinagar has yet not been prepared”.
By extending the term of the J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act, Government would allow moratorium on action against unauthorized constructions till December 31, 2015.
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