Jammu & Kashmir no longer a state
TWO NEW UNION TERRITORIES COME INTO EXISTENCE
NEW DELHI: History will be scripted on Thursday when Jammu and Kashmir, which has been part of the Union of India since 1947, will cease to be a state and will be bifurcated into two Union Territories.
IAS officers Girish Chandra Murmu and R K Mathur, who have been appointed the new Lieutenant Governors (LG) for the Union territories (UTS) of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh respectively, will be sworn-in at separate functions to be held in Srinagar and Leh on Thursday.
Both Murmu and Mathur will be sworn in by Chief Justice of J&K High Court Gita Mittal.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the appointed day for the two UTS is October 31, and these will come into existence in the midnight (Wednesday-thursday), nearly three months after the announcement in Rajya Sabha.
This is for the first time that a state is converted into two UTS even though there are numerous example of a UT becoming a full state or a state bifurcating into two states.
The total number of states in the country will be now 28 while the total UTS will go up to seven.
The Narendra Modi government’s decision and subsequent approval of Parliament to abrogate the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and its bifurcation into two UTS was taken to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement.
The electoral promise of the BJP to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir came less than 90 days after the Modi 2.0 government assumed power in May end.
The August 5 decision was taken 72 years after the then ruler of the princely state, Maharaja Hari Singh, executed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947, making it part of the Union of India.
The two UTS will come into existence on the day of the birth anniversary country’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is credited for the merger of over 560 states into the Union of India.
NEW DELHI: The Centre will be in direct control of the police and the law and order in Jammu and Kashmir from Thursday when it becomes a Union Territory, while the land will be under the elected government there.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the land -the rights in or over it -- will be with the elected government of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, unlike in Delhi where the LG exercises control through the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a central government entity.
The Act says the Legislative Assembly of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir may make laws for the whole or any part of the union territory with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the state list of the Constitution except the subjects mentioned in entries one and two -- 'public order' and 'police' respectively -- or the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
Police, and law and order in Delhi and Puducherry, both of which have their own legislative
assembly, is controlled by the Centre through the Lieutenant Governor (LG).
All India Services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), and the Anticorruption Bureau (ACB) will be under the control of the LG and not the elected government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The services and the ACB have been among the
key reasons for frequent tussle between the Arvind Kejriwalled Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act says matters related to land, that is to say rights in or over it, land tenures, transfer and alienation of agricultural land, land improvement and agricultural loans will be under the domain of the elected government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Land revenue, including the assessment and collection, maintenance of land records, survey for revenue purposes and records of rights, and alienation of revenues will also come under the purview of the elected government of UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Police, law and order, and land in the UT of Ladakh will be under the direct control of its LG, through whom the Centre will administer the highaltitude region. According to the Act, Ladakh will not have a legislative assembly.
On and from the appointed day, that is October 31, when the two new UTS will come into existence, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir shall be the common high court for the UTS of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh The judges of the high court of J-K will become the judges of the common high court from Thursday.
The Act says the cadres of the IAS and IPS for the existing state of Jammu and Kashmir, on and from the appointed day, shall continue to function on the existing cadres.
However in future, the all India service officers to be posted to UTS of Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh shall be borne on the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory cadre, more popularly known as UT cadre.
The total strength of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir assembly is 107 elected MLAS, which will be enhanced to 114 after delimitation. Twenty-four seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under POK.