NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved adoption of the Jammu & Kashmir Panchayat Raj Act and said the process for local body polls in the Union Territory will start soon.
The Cabinet approval came days after the J&K Panchayati Act was notified. Sources said the Act was notified on October 16 with PM Narendra Modi’s approval, invoking Rule 12 of the Transaction of Business Rules, 1961. Rule 12 empowers the PM to permit or condone a departure from these rules in any case or classes of cases, to the extent he deems necessary. “The Cabinet on Wednesday gave its post-facto approval,” an official told TOI.
Speaking to media after a Cabinet meeting, Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said the move will help establish all the three tiers of grassroots level democracy like in other parts of the country for the first time since Independence.
The minister said while people across India had the right to elect local representatives, the same was missing in J&K. Javadekar said the move will empower people in the UT and “they will elect their own representatives. And those representatives will plan the development of the district and implement the various welfare measures and programs”.