Srinagar: Even as the Jammu and Kashmir elected government is nearing two months, the rules of business are yet to be framed, which the Congress, a part of the National Conference government, says is a wrong precedent.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra said that delaying of business rules and not defining the authority of the elected government and the Lieutenant Governor is bad for democracy.
"It is not good for the democratic system and a wrong precedent is being set by not framing the business rules and defining the powers of the elected government which has been in place for two months now. It is not a good trend," Karra told reporters in Srinagar.
He said the dual control in administration has hit governance in Jammu and Kashmir due to which people are suffering.
"Only the chief minister and LG can say if there is a tussle between them. It is good if there is no tussle between them, but the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the first casualty of the dual control (of government) in the union territory" he said.
Congress, which contested assembly elections in alliance with the National Conference, is supporting the Omar-led government from outside. However, many say that Karra has been censuring the government as an opposition leader.
Earlier, Karra said that Congress has nothing to do with the resolution of statehood passed by the JK cabinet. He sounded critical over the chief minister not being able to be part of the security related meeting which was chaired by the LG in October.
The elected government led by Omar Abdullah, the National Conference vice president, is completing its second month on December 16. But the absence of the business rules, which will delegate powers to the government, has crippled its functioning.
The government has set up a cabinet sub committee, which is headed by the deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary and comprises Sakeena Itoo, and Javed Rana, the two cabinet ministers, besides the Administrative Secretary General Administration Department, and Law Secretary its members.
Choudhary had told ETV Bharat on November 27 that the committee will "very soon" complete the exercise of framing business rules.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 has defined powers of Lieutenant Governor but it has not mentioned or defined the rules of business for an elected government. The Act was implemented after Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded into a union territory on August 5, 2019 when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government abrogated Article 370 and Article 35 A.
Section 55 of the Reorganization Act defines the conduct of business, explaining that the Lieutenant Governor shall make rules on the advice of the council of Ministers for the allocation of business to the ministers; and for the more convenient transaction of business with the ministers including the procedure to be adopted in case of a difference of opinion between the Lieutenant Governor and the Council of Ministers or a Minister.
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