Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 28: State Cabinet, which is meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on August 30 at Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, will give nod to the summoning of State Legislature on September 23. It will also accord approval to the promotion of nine Special Scale KAS officers to the Super Time Scale and appointment of three Functional Managers to the Time Scale of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service.
Sources in General Administration Department told EXCELSIOR that Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs is placing a proposal before the Cabinet regarding summoning of State Legislature on September 23. The Legislative Assembly will meet at 10 am and Legislative Council at 11 am.
The two Houses of the State Legislature were last summoned by the Governor to meet at Jammu on February 28, 2013 and on completion of business, the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council were adjourned sine-die by their respective Presiding Officers on April 5, 2013 and April 6, 2013 respectively. Both the Houses were thereafter prorogued by the Governor on April 24, 2013.
Under Section 53 of the Constitution of J&K, six months shall not intervene between the last sitting in one session and the date fixed for its first sitting in the next session as such summoning of Legislature on September 23 has become constitutional requirement.
Sources said that Cabinet will also accord sanction to the promotion of nine Special Scale KAS officers to the Super Time Scale of the J&K Administrative Service prospectively. These officers are Manesha Devi Sharma, Salma Hamid, Mubarak Singh, Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, Farooq Ahmed Shah, Manzoor Ahmed Lone, Showkat Ahmad Zargar, Tsering Muroop and Jaipal Singh.
Three Super Time Scale KAS officers working in the Civil Secretariat can be posted as Secretaries in the respective departments and as of now only one officer namely Dev Lata, Special Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, is holding the Super Time Scale of KAS. As such she will be designated as Secretary in the CM’s Secretariat, sources said, adding from among the nine officers recommended by the Establishment-cum-Selection Committee for promotion to the Super Time Scale of KAS Tsering Muroop, Special Secretary, Ladakh Affairs Department, will be designated as Secretary in the Department.
This is being done in view of the persistent demand of the KAS Association to post the KAS officers commensurate to their status and to designate such officers holding the Super Time Scale as Secretaries to the Government/Secretaries in the Department as provided in the KAS Rules.
Sources said that Cabinet will also accord approval to the appointment of three Functional Managers of Industries and Commerce Department to the Time Scale of J&K Administrative Services on notional and regular basis. These officers are Y P Suman, P K Koul and Anjana Tickoo.
In response to a question, sources didn’t rule out the possibility of Cabinet ordering some transfers in the civil administration especially in view of the fact that Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Jeet Lal Gupta is superannuating from the Government service on August 31.