Srinagar, Sep 29: The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed five Bills — including one aimed at promoting Ease of Doing Business, and amendments to the Goods and Services Tax Act and the Municipal Act, 2000 — while withdrawing two Bills concerning the salaries of ministers and legislators.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah moved seven Bills in the House.
The five Bills passed including Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000 (Amendment) Bill — amends the municipal law, including provisions on the composition of municipal bodies and the territorial jurisdiction of wards.
Jammu and Kashmir Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (Amendment) Bill — amends the state’s GST framework.
Ease of Doing Business Bill — consolidates and amends the law to replace permission-based control with rule-based governance, enabling citizens and enterprises to plan, invest and work with confidence, and to foster Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living in a manner that generates employment, attracts investment and sustains long-term economic growth.
Decriminalisation Bill — amends certain enactments to decriminalise and rationalise offences for Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business, and to repeal certain Acts.
Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature Members’ Pension Act, 1984 (Amendment) Bill — amends the pension law for former legislators.
During discussions on the Municipal Act amendment Bill, BJP MLA R S Pathania said he was unable to understand what the government wanted to achieve through the amendments. “They want to do delimitation of wards. But the government does not do it. It is the power of the chief electoral officer,” he said, adding that the Bill creates confusion.
“It talks about deputy commissioner, SEC (State Election Commission) or any other authority. The government wants to assume the power of delimitation,” he said, demanding that a House committee study the Bill. He also questioned whether the government even wanted to hold panchayat and municipal elections.
Responding, the chief minister said the MLA is a good lawyer, and lawyers have a quality that they argue even if they do not necessarily believe in it. “They just want to represent their client properly.
He (MLA) tried to find an error for the sake of it. We wanted to remove confusion about five-member municipal bodies and seven-member bodies in the Act. There will be a minimum of seven members in each of the municipal bodies,” Abdullah said.
He said the job of marking the territorial jurisdiction of wards is anyway done by the respective deputy commissioners. “In the past also, DCs did it. We have removed the CEO to remove confusion,” he asserted.
On Pathania’s query about elections to local bodies, the chief minister said the government’s intention to hold panchayat elections is “just as serious as yours about granting statehood”.
“They (BJP) will ask when the elections will be held? I would say at an appropriate time. When is that? It will be when it will be,” CM Omar said.
He appealed to the House to pass the “minor amendments” aimed at removing confusion.
The Speaker then put the Bill to a vote, and it was passed by voice vote.
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