Exercise begins for implementation of 74th Amendment
Wings of 7 key deptts being considered in Phase-I
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 14: In a major development towards implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment, the Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha has sought proposals from key departments for devolution of their powers to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
In the initial phase, wings/divisions of seven key Government departments are being considered for transfer to these grass root level democratic institutions so that they are empowered strictly as per the provisions of the Constitution of India.
Ever since his taking over as Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha is laying stress on the implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment, which has not received due attention of the successive Governments, in order to empower the Urban Local Bodies in true sense.
While interacting with elected members of democratic institutions in urban areas of the Union Territory, the Lieutenant Governor has a number of times said, “administration is fully committed to effective implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment and necessary steps in this regard will be initiated in the shortest possible time”.
Now, the Lieutenant Governor has formally sought proposals in this regard from the Government departments so that long pending grievance of the Urban Local Bodies is redressed as early as possible, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
They disclosed that on the instructions of the Lieutenant Governor the issue was recently debated in a high level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, who has conveyed to the Administrative Secretaries of all the concerned departments that strengthening of grass root level democratic institutions in the urban areas is the top most priority of the Lieutenant Governor.
He has explicitly told the Administrative Secretaries of Health and Medical Education Department, Social Welfare Department, School Education Department, Public Works Department, Forest, Environment and Ecology Department, Jal Shakti Department and Floriculture, Gardens and Parks Department to submit detailed proposals regarding devolution/transfer of the department specific wings/divisions to these elected bodies in accordance with the provisions of the 74th Constitutional Amendment.
All these departments have further been told to work in coordination so that there remains no issue of overlapping of powers while implementing 74th Constitutional Amendment, sources further informed.
“Time-frame has been fixed for this exercise so that proposals are placed before the Lieutenant Governor as early as possible and thereafter the same will be discussed and approved in the Administrative Council, which is headed by Lieutenant Governor and comprised Advisors and Chief Secretary”, sources said.
“The departments are examining which powers can be devolved to the Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation and rest of the Urban Local Bodies like Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees”, sources further said, adding “in respect of Corporations devolution of wings/divisions of departments would not be difficult as compared to other Urban Local Bodies, which don’t have much manpower and resources”.
It is pertinent to mention here that from time to time funds, functions and functionaries of several departments were devolved to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as per the provisions of 73rd Amendment but the Urban Local Bodies were crying for implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment.
Till date only separate Electric Maintenance Divisions for the Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation have been created as per the decision taken by the Administrative Council in its meeting held on February 27, 2020.
This has been done to ensure that street lighting functions are monitored only by the Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations.
“It is only after the bifurcation of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories that 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments actually received due attention”, sources said, adding “Ministry of Home Affairs wants all those provisions of the Constitution of India, which could not be extended to Jammu and Kashmir because of its special status under Article 370, are implemented for empowering the democratic institutions and welfare of the people”.
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