New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024' aimed at providing reservation to OBCs in Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, was on Tuesday taken up for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha. The amendment bill is touted to be aimed at “removing major constitutional impediment” which had led to the deferment of the local body polls in the Jammu and Kashmir union territory.
Significantly, the existing Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000 and the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act, 2000 (the Acts) did not have any provision for reservation to the OBCs. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai on behalf of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In a statement issued ahead of the introduction of the bill in the Lok Sabha, the Union Home Ministry said that the amendment bill which is “in consonance with the provisions of the Part IX and Part IXA of the Constitution” has been brought “to ensure justice to the citizens of Other Backward Classes of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time after 75 years of independence.”
Significantly, the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 comes a month after the term of the elected Panchayat bodies ended. Pertinently, the panchayat members in Jammu and Kashmir were elected in December 2018 while the seats which were left vacant in 2018 polls were filled by re-elections in December 2022 when first District Development Council elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of article 370.
