Srinagar: Are the authorities in Jammu & Kashmir Housing Board mulling to take away the control of the Board from the elected government by filling the top post from the bureaucracy?
This is what the new draft policy seeking feedback from the public since November 28 suggests. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the portfolio of minister of the Housing and Urban Development Department, is the incumbent chairperson of the Board.
The draft open to public comments and suggestions was made public on November 28, nearly two months after the elected government assumed the charge. The last date for filing submissions is December 31.
The draft notification said that the exercise was undertaken under the powers conferred by section 59 of the Jammu & Kashmir Housing Board Act, 1976. The law allows the Board to make rules for carrying out the purpose of the Act.
The chairperson of the Board, according to the new draft, will be the Administrative Secretary J&K Housing and Urban Development Department. Currently, the Commissioner/Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department is one of the directors of the board comprising nine members.
The Act suggests the Board should consist of a Chairman, who by default is the minister of Housing and Urban Development Department alongside nine members.
However, in the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory, the key powers including the transfer of Indian Administrative Services Officers are vested with the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. By virtue of this provision, the Raj Bhawan will have the leeway to appoint the officer of choice to the coveted post.
Yogesh Sharma, Senior Programmer at J&K Housing Board, who is the undersigned seeking suggestions from the public told ETV Bharat that the draft was formed before the government formation. He said the rules were not formed until now and they have done it for the first time since the Act came into force.
The government superseded all the previous orders and reconstituted the Board with Abdullah as the chairperson on December 9, an official order said. The draft rules, however, have not been changed until now and are still open for public submissions on the Board’s website.
“There was no minister in charge till last week. We can change it later,” said the senior programmer. Further, the Managing Director who would supervise the administrative affairs of the Board will act as the Member Secretary of the Board with the powers equivalent to a Chief Engineer.
Besides, the draft said, the board will have eight other members holding existing postings or portfolios. They include Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Engineer-in-Chief Public Works Department, Managing Director J&K Housing Board, Chief Architect J&K, Chief Town Planner Jammu, Chief Town Planner Kashmir, and Representative of the Finance Department not below the rank of the Additional Secretary.
The Board’s funds will be utilised for the development and implementation of housing projects, maintenance and improvement of existing housing facilities and provision of loans, subsidies and other financial assistance to eligible individuals or groups for housing purposes.
The move is significant in the face of big township and housing projects, as they, according to the draft J&K Housing Board Rules 2024 issued on November 28, fall under the Housing Board along with the maintenance and re-development of housing colonies.
This comes on the heels of the Board’s proposal to build satellite townships across the Ring Road in six districts of the valley, ranging from Galander in the saffron town of Pampore and Ganderbal. The construction move has triggered public discontent in Kashmir.
As reported by ETV Bharat, the satellite townships across the Ring Road in six districts of the valley fall along the new road being constructed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) from south Kashmir's Pulwama to central Kashmir's Ganderbal district. The ring road skirts through the Budgam district and reaches Ganderbal district to finally connect with the Leh-Srinagar Highway.
Each township has been proposed to be built on 200 hectares (4000 kanals) and the administration has proposed 30 townships on both sides of the Ring Road within its 500 meters.
The Board will act to implement the township and housing policy of the government besides maintenance and re-development of all housing colonies as entrusted to the Board, the draft said. Apart from it, the board’s work will include the renewal of lease of the houses in the approved housing colonies and development and maintenance of housing projects, slum clearance and rehabilitation projects, it added.
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