Srinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in the Centre has turned down Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Omar Abdullah’s recommendation of continuing with the union territory’s Advocate General, who stepped down in October after the National Conference-led government was sworn into office.
Upping the ante, Abdullah said that he was going to take up the issue of restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah “now that they have time” after the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The discord between the two sides came to the fore following reports earlier this week that Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who was appointed to Jammu and Kashmir by the saffron party in 2020, had opposed Abdullah’s move to allow the former advocate general D.C. Raina, to continue in his role.
Jammu and Kashmir CM, Raj Bhawan spar over choice of AG
Raina, who was appointed as Jammu and Kashmir’s advocate general under Governor Satya Pal Malik, submitted his resignation to the government on October 19, days after Abdullah was sworn in as the first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
His resignation was, however, turned down, reportedly by the chief minister’s office, and he was asked by the “top competent authority to continue to serve” as the advocate general (AG). The Raj Bhawan opposed Raina’s continuation, according to a report in The Hindu.
Earlier this year, the central government approved a controversial amendment to the business rules spelled out in J&K Reorganisation Act 2019 under which the lieutenant governor was empowered to appoint the AG of J&K and other law officers.
The ‘Transaction of Business of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (Second Amendment) Rules, 2024’ was approved by President Droupadi Murmu on July 12, less than two months before the assembly election was held in the Union territory.
The amendment also handed over the control of law and order, higher bureaucracy, prosecutions and other security related departments to the LG’s office.
The amendment was widely seen by the ruling National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party and other opposition groups as a “desperate move” by the saffron party to disempower the elected government of Jammu and Kashmir.
While the amendment to business rules gave the power to transfer Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers serving in Jammu and Kashmir to the LG, government sources said that the postings of JKAS officers was the domain of the CM’s office.
However, the transfer of a J&K Administrative Service (JKAS) officer who was posted as a deputy commissioner in Jammu divisions by LG Sinha has reportedly aggravated the matter further between the chief minister’s office and the Raj Bhawan.
Quoting the Union Home Ministry sources, IANS news agency reported that “there is nothing called absolute power” with either the LG or the CM, while noting that new business rules are being “vetted” by the ministry for J&K which will be notified “very soon” to remove the confusion over the jurisdiction of the two offices.
“In a nutshell, as long as J&K remains a UT, the members of the council of ministers must understand the limitations put by the Constitution on their right to freely exercise powers when these come into conflict with those vested by the Constitution in the office of the Lieutenant Governor,” the MHA sources told the agency.
Abdullah pushes for restoration of statehood
The power tussle has broken out between the two sides at a time when Abdullah has been pushing for the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir which was bifurcated and downgraded into two union territories by the BJP-led government in 2019.
Speaking with reporters in Srinagar on Thursday (December 5), Abdullah said that his government was going to raise the issue of restoration of J&K’s statehood with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“They (Modi and Shah) were busy with elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. But now that they have time, we will take up this issue so that J&K’s statehood is restored soon. We are hopeful that the prime minister will keep his promise made not to us, but to the people of J&K during the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly polls that followed,” Abdullah said.
In its first sitting after the election result was announced, a resolution was passed by J&K assembly with a majority vote that denounced the “unilateral” removal of the erstwhile state’s “special status and constitutional guarantees” in 2019 by the central government.
Abdullah had also discussed a resolution with Modi, Shah and other senior BJP ministers which called on the central government to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. The resolution was passed in the first cabinet meeting chaired by Abdullah.
While the chief minister has spoken of building bridges with the BJP-led Centre, the rejection of his recommendation to continue Raina as J&K AG and the transfer of a JKAS officer by the Raj Bhawan which is the domain of the chief minister’s office, suggests the the saffron party was in no mood to reciprocate.
The controversy has erupted at a time when the new reservation policy, which was announced by the centre earlier this year to consolidate its votebank among Paharis and other backward tribes, is emerging as a major headache for the Abdullah government.
