WgCdr Mahesh Chander Sudan (Retd)
We, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been suffering deficit governance of public resources since dissolution of elected Government on 19 Jun 2018 formed by PDP in coalition with BJP. The unholy alliance formed purely to keep National Conference and Congress away from the ruling chair and to facilitate further expansion and strengthening of BJP in the then State of Jammu and Kashmir old alliance partners tried their luck in the most troubled political water. A timeline of the political developments post declaration of Assembly Polls in the year 2014 demonstrates an opportune political landscape staged and managed administratively by the Union of India that compelled PDP to align for a coalition Government on an Agenda of Alliance in an unusually long period of two months for forming PDP led coalition with BJP. This period from 28 Dec 2014 to 19 Jun 2018 show cased many political uncertainties resulting out of unholy alliance that resulted in off and on shift of governor rules not in the interest of State welfare but to hold the political sway by twisting constitutional provisions either during initial formation of alliance, on sudden death of Late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, period of reluctance to accept continuation of PDP with Mehbooba Mufti as CM in accordance with the Agenda of Alliance. The Coalition based on this alliance could not survive long and finally it <,ended with withdrawal of support of the BJP legislators owing to some sensitive security uprisings in the valley.
A long absence of elected Government on one or the other pretext subsequent to withdrawal of support for alliance by the BJP denied constitutional right to franchise to the people of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir for almost five years that remains unjustified even today except for the fact that it had hidden political agenda of the then ruling dispensation led by BJP. In the interim period, an administrative change affecting status of the State of JK and her territorial limits was incorporated to convert the whole region into two UTs, possibly to address long outstanding demand of Leh and Ladakh and to effect delimitation exercise particularly in the JKUT so that the territory awarded to the newly formed UT of JK is divided into authorized constituencies to hold Legislative Elections thereafter. This reignited the hope amongst people for being part of democratic governance of public resources for furthering general welfare of the state as envisioned in the Constitution of India Part IV under Directive Principles of the State Policy. Article 38 of the Indian Constitution defines that the State shall promote welfare of the people by securing and protecting Social Order and also to eliminate the inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities both individually and also amongst groups.
Inter alia, the maiden Legislative Elections in the youngest UT were held in the month of October 2024 exactly after five years of her formation and an elected Government headed by National Conference got formed on 16 October 2024 when Omer Abdullah got sworn in as a Chief Minister of the Union Territory. It is understood that governance structure refers to a framework that defines authority, responsibility and decision making power within an organization. It may be centralized, decentralized or hybrid depending on various factors like business requirements and risk tolerance. In case of newly formed Union Territory, the governance structure apparently is different from a full-fledged State where the Council of Ministers headed by their leader as Chief Minister of the State undertakes full responsibility of Governance, enjoys authority to make independent decisions for achieving healthy governance of public resources to promote larger welfare of the State whereas in case of Union Territory, it may not be the same owing to extended intervention of the Union dispensation.
It is also established that the people of Jammu and Kashmir disapproved and opposed demotion of the erstwhile State into two UTs and voted INDI Alliance to power with 49 seats out of 90 Legislative Assemblies of the UT and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference being the largest single party formed Government headed by Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister. Undoubtedly, new political era in JKUT post Abrogation of Article 370 raised challenges for the local political outfits to retain their existence especially for PDP that suffered public annoyance in the valley whereas pragmatic approach of the National Conference could retain the political space dominating over political spectrum across the valley.
The UT Government formed almost nine months ago is engrossed in reestablishing itself in the changed Administrative environment guided by the provisions outlined in the JK Reorganization Act 2019 and other rules made for transaction of business by the UT Government that moderated power structure between Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister secretariat. Three functions of a State are largely covered under Executive, Legislative and Judicial and in case of JKUT certain changes have been incorporated especially with regard to Legislative functions of the elected Government that encompasses all matters given in the State List of the Constitution of India except for Public Order and Police that remains preserved with Central Government and the LG has been vested with powers to issue ordinances in this regard. This is apparently a grey area that provides escape route for underperformance to elected CM and his council of Ministers and a bone of contention between Executive and Legislature that ultimately hurts the welfare of the State. There is few more check points created in the recent structural transformation where the elected representative heading the Legislature as CM is required to follow and obtain consent of the appointed LG.
The ultimate aim of the democratic system of governance is to promote public welfare and the processes adopted are expected to be more public friendly, moderated and shortest possible with minimum speed breakers so that public resources are exploited economically for healthy wellbeing of the nation, with fair and equitable opportunities for each and every citizen of the country whether he belongs to East, West, North or South irrespective of caste, creed and sex as enshrined in the Constitution of India.
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