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For curb power of elected leaders Central Goverment new amended the J&K Panchayati Raj rules.

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4 years ago

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The Central government has amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj rules to set up a directly-elected 14-member district development council, which local political participants fear is aimed at curbing the powers of members of legislative bodies.

The councils will supplant the earlier District Development Boards, which were chaired by a Cabinet Minister or a Minister of State and included MPs, MLAs and MLCs.

There are no legislative bodies as they were abolished when Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two Union Territories during  the dilution of powers under Article 370 of the Indian constitution last year in August.

“The government today amended J&K Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996, to provide for establishment of elected District Development Councils in Jammu and Kashmir. The move to have elected third tier of Panchayati Raj institution marks the implementation of the entire 73rd Amendment Act in J&K,” the spokesman of the Union Territory’s administration said on Saturday, as per PTI.

The spokesperson stated that the new DDCs will comprise members directly elected from 14 territorial constituencies of the district, with the winners electing a chairperson and vice-chairperson.

“But some other observers said this essentially disempowered the second tier of the government (the state or UT) and suggests that Assembly elections in the UT may not happen anytime soon,” reported the paper.

A senior leader of Peoples’ Democratic Party, Naeem Akhtar asserted that move was undertaken to end the role of regional politics. “The aim is total depoliticisation so that there is no central collective voice. It is to cut to size the people of Jammu and Kashmir so that they don’t have a political voice. The aim is to sub-divide, overlap, create layer after later so that nobody would know who is in-charge. In such a scenario, the ultimate arbiter would be bureaucrat and the security set-up,” he told .

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah has not publicly commented, but another senior unnamed NC leader told that the decision would have far-reaching consequences towards reducing the role of MLA.

The councils will also include MLAs and chairpersons of Block Development Councils within the district. However, the MLAs will have no voting rights in election or removal of the chairman and vice-chairman of District Development Councils. The councils will be elected for a term of five years, with the additional district development commissioner to be chief executive officer.

Each council will have five standing committees which will be chaired by the MP of that area.

The district deputy commissioners will be responsible for drawing up the 14 constituencies in the districts before elections are held to the DDC. The notification for holding elections to the DDCs may be issued within 10 days, as per sources quoted by the paper.

“With the Halqa Panchayat as the basic unit, the district’s yearly and five-yearly development plans will be finalised by a three tier system of Gram Panchayats, Block Development Councils and the District Development Councils. The DDCs will receive plans from Block Development Councils, and after scrutiny, send them “for adherence to the Government guidelines, norms and rules” and submit the consolidated plan to the District Planning Committee,” noted.

In November 2018, elections were held to the 39,521 rural constituencies to elect members to the panchayat. But more than one-third seats are still vacant due to various factors. Bypolls for these vacant panchayat seats are expected to be held next month.

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What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story

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3 years ago

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May 5, 2022

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The court, generally, considers a person who commit a crime and the one who destroys the evidence, as criminals in the eyes of law. But what if an animal destroys the evidence of a crime committed by a human.

In a peculiar incident in Rajasthan, a monkey fled away with the evidence collected by the police in a murder case. The stolen evidence included the murder weapon (a blood-stained knife).

The incident came to light when the police appeared before the court and they had to provide the evidence in the hearing.

The hearing was about the crime which took place in September 2016, in which a person named Shashikant Sharma died at a primary health center under Chandwaji police station. After the body was found, the deceased’s relatives blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway, demanding an inquiry into the matter.

Following the investigation, the police had arrested Rahul Kandera and Mohanlal Kandera, residents of Chandwaji in relation to the murder. But, when the time came to produce the evidence related to the case, it was found that the police had no evidence with them because a monkey had stolen it from them.

In the court, the police said that the knife, which was the primary evidence, was also taken by the monkey. The cops informed that the evidence of the case was kept in a bag, which was being taken to the court.

The evidence bag contained the knife and 15 other important evidences. However, due to the lack of space in the malkhana, a bag full of evidence was kept under a tree, which led to the incident.

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