Business Rules proposal in limbo
Jammu, Jun 10: Intriguing disquiet persists vis-a-vis proposed business rules draft by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led J&K government as it still awaits approval of the appropriate authority - the office of the Lieutenant Governor.
In the absence of any clarity on its (drafts) present status, confusion abounds particularly in political circles.
The last official statement on this account had come from the National Conference (NC) chief spokesman and MLA Zadibal, Tanvir Sadiq over a month ago.
Even that statement had come in response to queries about reports that the LGís office had returned the proposed J&K Transaction of Business Rules to the elected government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with certain queries at the beginning of May.
The file related to the draft proposal of Transaction of Business Rules prepared by the Cabinet Sub-Committee was sent to the LGs office in March this year.
The reports quoting anonymous sources pointed out that the queries sent by the LGís office delineated the essence that the draft proposal (of Business Rules sent by the elected government) was in contradiction with the J&K Reorganisation Act.
The proposal presumably was seeking to bring all postings and transfers, including those of IAS officers, under the purview of the J&K cabinet besides calling for wider power for it (cabinet) vis-‡-vis a few other areas of interests including Advocate Generalís appointment.
But there was no official word from either side vis-a-vis the content of the draft proposal or the irritants that had resulted in the status quo.
NCs chief spokesman Tanvir Sadiq, in response to media queries on May 5, 2025, the day the Civil Secretariat reopened in Srinagar, said, ìCertain queries were raised by the Raj Bhawan. Today (May 5, 2025), the cabinet led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met in the morning and prepared a response to those queries. Today only it (reply to queries) will be sent back to the Raj Bhawan. This is a work in progress. They had some queries which were being replied to.
Was it in contradiction with the J&K Reorganisation Act, answer to this query was, ìYou donít go into media reports. I have specified the issue that they raised certain queries and they were being answered. We hope that there will be clarity on this issue very soon.î
That was the last official stance on that issue.
Later, reports quoting yet again anonymous sources said that the cabinet had forwarded the same proposal to the LGís office with the reply that the ìnecessary procedures were followed while framing rules.î
After that, no word was heard about the status of the Business Rules proposal.
India-Pakistan escalation and the developments thereafter could be the reason.
However, NC Member Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah on June 4, 2025, again obliquely brought the issue to the fore, while sharing reservations over the termination of government employees over alleged terror links.
The government in its manifesto had promised to stop such practice (termination of employees without giving them an opportunity to be heard), confronted with this query, Ruhullah said, ìYes, the (elected) government should stop it. You should pose this query to the government. But first of all, there should be clarity on the issue ñ who holds the authority to terminate? Who is the decision-making authority? Who and where is the power centre? There should be clarity on these issues.
If news reports are to be believed, the (elected) government had ingeniously tried to ìseek statehood within the UT status through its proposal till J&K gets back its statehood.
As far as demand for statehood is concerned, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, on June 6, deftly reiterated it in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the event at Katra related to the dedication of the Udhampur-Srinagar Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project to the nation.
However, unease regarding the fate of the proposed Transaction of Business Rules is far from over.
Seemingly even the members of the elected government are as clueless as the other enlightened citizens (media included).
Hint was evident in the response of a senior National Conference leader, himself a reputed legal luminary and an MLA when Greater Kashmir queried him about the updated status of the proposal related to Business Rules.
I donít have any idea. Earlier, the draft was sent to the office of the LG. They had raised some queries, which were replied to and the draft was sent back again. After that what is the present status? I donít know,î the NC leader said.
The bottom line was clear ñ the status quo persists as it was on May 5, 2025.
Notably, the majority of powers and functions are defined in J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The powers of the LG were clearly defined in the MHA notification in July 2024.
At present, confusion does persist about the powers of the Chief Minister, Cabinet, Ministers and Administrative Secretaries.
Ambiguity erupts when there is an overlapping of powers of elected government and bureaucratic set-up, related to transfers, recruitment rules, creation of posts and green-light to various projects.
