Percentage of reservation in Local Bodies
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 30: The Government today appointed Justice (Retd.) Janak Raj Kotwal, a former Judge of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, as head of a panel set-up last month for recommending percentage of reservation to Other backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Raj Kumar Bhagat (Retired IAS officer) and Prof ( Dr) Mohinder Singh Bhadwal (former dean SKUAST Jammu) have been appointed as Members of the OBC Commission, an official order issued today by the Union Territory Government said.
It said the tenure of chairperson and members will be co-terminus with the term of the Commission.
“The Commission has been empowered to conduct an empirical study and investigation in the context of the representation of backward classes in all local bodies before the upcoming elections,” the officials said.
The Commission has been asked to submit its recommendations regarding proportional reservation for backward classes, local body-wise, both urban and rural, in accordance with the amendments made in the Union Territory’s local bodies Act last year to facilitate reservation for OBCs in them.
The Parliament had in February this year cleared the bill for providing reservations to the OBCs in Panchayats, Municipalities, Block Development Councils (BDCs) and District Development Councils (DDCs).
Because of the reservations to OBCs for the first time in these bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, elections to Panchayats and Municipalities, which were due in October-November last year, have been delayed.
On June 7, 2024, the Administrative Council headed by LG Manoj Sinha had cleared a proposal for constituting the Panel for proposing reservation for OBCs in Panchayats and Municipalities.
In 2023, the Parliament had made amendments in J&K’s reservation law to rechristen “Weak and Under-privileged Classes (Social Castes)” as “Other Backward Classes”.
Later, in February 2024, the Parliament amended the J&K’s Municipal and Panchayat laws to facilitate reservation of OBCs in local bodies of the UT.
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