PDP cautions Governor over fiddling with State Subject laws

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Dec 1: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted sharply over the reports about Governor’s Administration fiddling with the existing State Subject laws and amendment made in Jammu & Kashmir Protection of Human Rights Act and urged it not to act beyond its mandate.
It said the Governor’s Administration has cleared a proposal that has turned the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) incapable of investigating any complaint of human rights violation submitted one year after the incident. And moreover, the Govt is planning a major change in the existing laws.
Cautioning the Governor against the attempts to reinvent everything in Jammu and Kashmir, former Minister and PDP general secretary Abdul Haq Khan said that Governor rule is a transitory arrangement and he (Satya Pal Malik) should avoid disrupting the existing laws and procedures in the State. He added that the PRC is a sensitive issue and there have been complaints  in the past  also that some non-State Subjects have acquired the certificates in spite of the foolproof arrangements.
The PDP leader said that the system of granting the PRC is an established practice and should not  be diluted at any cost.  “This is a matter of the identity of the State and any attempt to relax it will meet with resistance. It can open a Pandora box if the procedure is relaxed in any way. The system in vogue is the outcome of generation’s wisdom and departmental procedures. Same cannot be undone or fiddled with at whims of somebody,” Khan said, adding that it is surprising that some people in the administration are out to damage the credibility of Governor’s administration.
Khan further said “These decisions seen along with the earlier downgrade of J&K Bank as a PSU indicates that the present administration is out to undo the existing systems in a classic display of trying to fix what is not broken.”
The PDP leader also expressed serious concern over the latest Government decision according to which State Human Rights Commission cannot entertain complaints older than a year. Khan said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been worst victims of human rights violations and there is no time frame for the problems they have faced. He sought amendment in the state Human Rights Act.