Centre to control J&K Police like Delhi, Puducherry

New Delhi (3 MIN READ): The Centre will directly handle the functioning of police as well as law and order in the newly-created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through the Lieutenant Governor in the region while land related issues will be taken care of by the elected government, an official said on Sunday.

The move will follow similar administrative measures adopted in the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.

The revelation came amid the Centre’s clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir which has now become an Union Territory (UT) after the President on Friday gave his assent to a legislation for the bifurcation of the state into two UTs — Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and Ladakh without one.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday gave his nod to the Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir Act, 2019, to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs, which will come into effect on October 31. The Act was passed by the Parliament on Tuesday.

It has been learnt that land rights — transfer and alienation of agricultural land, land improvement and agricultural loans, land revenue, maintenance of land records, survey for revenue purposes and records of rights — will be the subject of the elected government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, unlike in Delhi where the Lieutenant Governor exercises control through the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a Central government entity.

As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, there will be a legislative Assembly of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir with an elected Chief Minister.

The J&K Assembly may frame laws for the UT but the command of the region’s police as well as law and order would be in the hands of the Lieutenant Governor deputed by the Central government, a system followed in Delhi and Puducherry.

The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a Lieutenant Governor and the maximum strength of its Assembly will be 107, which will be enhanced to 114 after a delimitation exercise. Twenty-four seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

For the UT of Ladakh, both law and order and land will be under the direct control of its Lieutenant Governor through whom the Centre will administer the hilly region.

From October 31, both Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will have the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir as the common high court. The existing judges of the current legal entity shall be the magistrates in the common high court.

All top administrative posts of all-India services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will be under the control of the Lieutenant Governor.

Published on: Aug 11, 2019 at 21:45 IST

IANS