Owaisi Criticizes Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Amendments

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has termed recent amendments to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, as detrimental to democracy, asserting that the Lieutenant Governor will overshadow the elected government. Government sources, however, maintain that the changes are merely clarificatory.

After the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) amended the rules of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi criticized the move, asserting that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) would now function as a 'Super CM.' In a post on X, Owaisi remarked, 'These are not normal amendments. They encroach upon the subjects vested with an elected government under J&K Reorganization. JKAS officers could be posted as administrative secretaries only by the LG. The LG will be the Super CM.'

Further criticizing the amendments, Owaisi stated that post-elections in the Union Territory, the elected government would be reduced to a 'lame duck' administration. He emphasized that an elected government would have no say in postings, security, and other significant matters. 'In anticipation that after elections (if they are held), the BJP will not be able to form the government, almost all powers have been 'gifted' to the LG,' Owaisi added, likening the situation to that of Puducherry.

President Droupadi Murmu has approved the amendments under section 55 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, alongside the Proclamation dated October 31, 2019. A notification from MHA clarifies that these changes will be effective from July 12, the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. The amendments precede the speculated assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Government sources clarified on Saturday that the changes are confined to the Transaction of Business Rules in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. They emphasized that these amendments are clarificatory, stemming from existing provisions in the State Reorganization Act of 2019. 'Nothing new has been provided in these rules; it is already mentioned in the State Reorganization Act of 2019,' sources noted.

It is pertinent to mention that the principal rules were published in the Gazette of India on August 27, 2020, and subsequently amended on February 28, 2024.