Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's cabinet has passed a proposal to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. This decision was taken in the cabinet meeting held on Thursday. According to sources, Omar will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi in 2 days and hand over the draft proposal to him.
Omar also said during the assembly elections that the proposal to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir will be approved in the first cabinet meeting only. He passed the resolution the next day after taking oath as CM on October 16. Deputy CM Surendra Chaudhary, ministers Sakina Masood Itu, Javed Ahmed Rana, Javid Ahmed Dar and Satish Sharma were also present in the cabinet meeting.
In fact, on August 5, 2019, along with the removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the central government abolished full statehood and divided it into two Union Territories (Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh).
The Center abrogated Article 370 on 5 August 2019.
Legal process after Cabinet approval… 3 points
- The proposal will be sent to the central government through the lieutenant governor after getting the approval of the Omar cabinet. The next decision has to be taken by the central government. Only the central government can process changes for full state status in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act.
- The state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganized into two union territories under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. Therefore, for full statehood, changes in the Reorganization Act have to be made by passing a law in Parliament. These changes will be made under Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution.
- Granting statehood would require the approval of new legislative changes in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, i.e., the proposal must be approved by Parliament. After approval it will be sent to the President. After their approval, Jammu and Kashmir will get full statehood from the date of issuance of notification of this legislative change by the President.
What will change after Jammu and Kashmir gets full statehood?
- The State Legislature shall have power to legislate in matters of public order and concurrent list.
- If the Government introduces any Finance Bill, it shall not require the approval of the Lt. Governor for the same.
- The state government will have complete control over the anti-corruption bureau and all-India services. That means the transfer and posting of officers in the state will be as per the state government, the lieutenant governor will not have control over it.
- With the amendment of Articles 286, 287, 288 and 304, the State Government will have all powers in matters of trade, taxation and commerce.
- 10% of the number of MLAs in a union territory can be made ministers, restoration of statehood will also remove this restriction on the number of ministers and up to 15% of the number of MLAs can be made ministers.
- Besides, the state government will get more powers than the center to complete schemes like releasing jail inmates and fulfilling other election promises of the National Conference.
The state's case also reached the Supreme Court
A petition seeking statehood to Jammu and Kashmir has also been filed in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear within two months a plea seeking full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir UT. Advocate Gopal Shankar Narayan has filed this petition on behalf of Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and Khurshid Ahmed Malik. CJI DY Chandrachud said he would listen to it.
The petition said that during the hearing on Article 370, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that Jammu and Kashmir would soon be restored to full statehood. However, even after 10 months of the decision in this case, the central government is yet to act on it. The Supreme Court's decision to abrogate Article 370 came on August 11, 2023.
After Omar's swearing in, the Congress said – the struggle will continue until full statehood is achieved
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administered oath to Omar Abdullah as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Center on October 16.
Omar Abdullah took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 October. The Congress, which contested the assembly elections along with the National Conference, did not join the government. Congress supported the government from outside. The party says its fight will continue till Jammu and Kashmir gets statehood. …
In September, the first assembly elections were held in the state after the abrogation of Article 370 After the abrogation of Article 370, the first assembly elections were held in the state last month. The results of the three-phase elections were declared on October 8. In which the National Conference (NC) emerged as the largest party. The party got 42 seats. NC's ally Congress won 6 seats and CPI(M) one seat.
BJP became the second largest party with 29 seats. At the same time, the PDP, which was the single largest party in the 2014 assembly elections, won only 3 seats. Party chief Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti also lost from Bijbehra seat. In the last election, the party won 28 seats.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
