Panel to call meeting with 4 Admn Secys
*Only JMC, SMC submit data so far
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 5: The OBC Commission whose term has been extended twice with mandate to finalize percentage of reservation for Other Backward Classes in the elections for both urban and rural local bodies, is yet to receive data on OBC population from the concerned departments prompting it to call meeting of the Administrative Secretaries of four departments shortly.
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Sources told the Excelsior that the OBC Commission headed by Justice (Retd) Janak Raj Kotwal and comprising two members-Raj Kumar Bhagat, a retired IAS officer and Prof Mohinder Singh Bhadwal, ex Dean SKUAST-Jammu-has sought data of OBC population from the concerned departments to decide on percentage to be given to OBCs in reservation in the Panchayats, Municipalities, District and Block Development Councils.
“The requisite data hasn’t been made available so far,” they said, adding this has prompted the Commission to call meeting of the Administrative Secretaries of Social Welfare Department, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Housing and Urban Development Department and Revenue Department.
The meeting is expected to be held shortly, they said.
With two extensions already being granted to the Commission, the chances that the high-level Panel will be able to meet December 31, 2024 deadline, are also remote going by delay on the part of concerned departments to submit information, the sources said.
The OBC Commission was set up on June 11 while the Chairman and Members were nominated on July 31this year.
Sources said percentage in reservation to OBCs in the rural and urban local bodies has to be proportionate to population like SCs and STs. And till the population data is provided by the concerned departments, it will not be possible for the Commission to decide on percentage for reservation to be given to the OBCs.
However, as per the sources, Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations have provided the data on OBC population sought by the Commission.
Presently, the women have 33 percent reservations in Urban and Rural Local Bodies while SCs and STs have been given reservations based on population.
The Panchayat and Municipal elections can be held only after the OBC Commission submits its report followed by an exercise to be undertaken for deciding the Wards to be reserved for OBCs. The delimitation exercise, if required, can also be undertaken, the sources said.
The Parliament had in February this year cleared the bill for providing reservations to the OBCs in Panchayats, Municipalities, BDCs and 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 to be held 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.
The Municipalities, Panchayats and BDCs are now without elected members for nearly one year. While term of the Municipalities ended in October-November last year, the Panchayats completed their tenure on January 9 this year. Since term of the BDCs was co-terminus with the Panchayats, they too ceased to exist when five-year tenure of the Panchayats ended.
However, the District Development Councils whose elections were held for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020 have their term till January 2026.
The last Panchayat and Municipal elections were held from September to November 2018. The Panchayat polls were held on a non-party basis while Municipal elections were conducted on party basis.
A total of 27,281 Panchs (Panchayat members) and Sarpanchs (Village Headmen) were elected in the 2018 elections.
Complete Panchayat elections in 2018 were held after decades while Municipal polls in the same year were conducted after 13 years.
Three-tier Panchayat Raj System in Jammu and Kashmir was completed for the first time with the elections held to the District Development Councils in December 2020. There are 20 DDCs in J&K-10 each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
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