Confusion, Chaos continues in J&K UT!
RS Gill
Jammu Tawi, Nov 06: The fast pace at which the things are being done by the central government to address the legal and statutory issues concerning the demoted Jammu and Kashmir state into a Union Territory reflects much was left in hurry without application of mind.
No official press handout was issued to inform people when the Advisors to Governor SP Malik relinquished their charge at the end of the Governor's tenure on Oct. 30, 2019. While the senior-most Advisor, Vijay Kumar timely opted out of the job a day earlier, the rest of the four were packed unceremoniously to oblivion. Similarly, the fate of Dr Nirmal Singh, the Speaker of the erstwhile Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir remains in animated suspension as he did not opt to resign after the J&K State and its Legislative Assembly ceased to exist. As per the official press release, the Speaker, Dr Nirmal Singh reviewed the functioning of the Assembly Secretariat on the opening day of the civil secretariat at Jammu on Monday.
More than half a dozen Presidential Orders, the latest being dated Oct 30, Oct 31 and Nov 02 that followed and notified after the passing of the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 have been pertaining to Modifications, Substitutions, ‘Removal of Difficulties', Proclamations, Interpretation (…shall construe as….), Revocation of President's rule and Appointments etc. could not make out many shortcomings and lacunae on the legal and constitutional front.
Interestingly, on Oct. 31, the appointed day when the Union Territory of J&K came into being, the President quoting the report of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of J&K UT suspended at least 36 sections out of 103 in the J&K Reorganisation Act pertaining to the Legislative Assembly of J&K UT and its related matters on the report of LG that reads ‘that situation has arisen in which the administration of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Act …….”
However, it does not speak about the fate of Dr Nirmal Singh, the Speaker of the erstwhile Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir State, that had ceased to exist with the extinction of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on and after October 31, 2019.
Sub-section 2 (c) of Section 19 of the J&K Reorganisation Act cannot come to the rescue of the Speaker of the erstwhile Legislative Assembly as statutorily the Assembly of J&K UT cannot be a successor of the former state Assembly. Moreover, all the provisions/sections relating to the Legislative Assembly of J&K UT stand suspended by the presidential order dated 31st October 2019.
These multiple presidential orders have made the entire exercise contorted and incomprehensible for even the legal mind as it is very difficult to connect the loose ends and it may take months to understand what has been done and where the Union Territory of J&K stands
