APPENDIX XIII
Regional Autonomy Committee Report

(EXCERPTS)

Jammu, April 13, 1999

29. The foregoing discussion leads this Committee to conclude that there is a strong case for the decentralisation of political and economic power which can be achieved through autonomy of the regions in the State. In this regard two objectives of ensuring the self-governance and rapid human development are central to the concept of autonomy. However, before any specific recommendations are made in this regard, it is relevant to define the regions within the State. This issue is basic to the political and economic empowerment of the people.

MAPPING THE REGIONS

30. The mapping of regions in Jammu & Kashmir is a complex task. The tribal attack from Pakistan which resulted in a part of the State going into the occupation of that country has further added to the complexities.

31. This Committee, through its interactions and memorandums submitted to it, has reached the conclusion that administrative division of the State have given erroneous impression that these constituted the actual regions of the State. It was pointed out that Ladakh has been declared administratively a part of Kashmir province. However, from any standard it cannot be considered as Kashmir region. It was equally argued that Jammu province comprised 22 former principalities, each having distinct historical background cannot be declared as a single homogeneous region. It was also represented that latest SRO-126 dated 28-06-1994 issued by the Jammu & Kashmir Government as a sequel to Justice A.S. Anand Committee Report, which was constituted to look into the social and educational backwardness of Doda district, declared 562 villages out of 655 villages as backward. It was validly argued that hilly regions of the Jammu province, which were ethnically and even agro-climatically different from each other, faced different problems due to the specific regions could not be uniformly applied at the provincial level. The Committee feels that his logic applies to Kashmir province including Ladakh also.

32. This Committee feels that there is dire urgency of defining the regions/province in the State to achieve the twin objective of self-governance and rapid social development. The Committee is of the opinion that the prevailing classification of Provinces/Divisions are hampering the processes of social/human development. The Committee is also of the view that this arrangement is coming in the way of democratic participation at the grassroots level within the State. Thus, in view of historical, social, ethnic and development factors, this Committee recommends that the existing two Provinces/Divisions of Jammu & Kashmir should be classified into eight new regions/provinces. The Committee, therefore, recommends reconstituting Regions/Provinces as follows:-

1. Kamraz (Baramulla and Kupwara Districts)

2. Nundabad (Budgam and Srinagar Districts)

3. Maraz (Anantnag and Pulwama Districts)

4. Chenab Valley (Doda District and Tehsil Mahore)

5. Jammu (Jammu, Kathua & Udhampur [excluding Tehsil Mahore and Rajouri Districts)

6. Pir Panchal (Poonch and Rajouri Districts)

7. Ladakh (Leh District)

8. Kargil (Kargil District)

This classification has been documented in detail in the annexure 'A' to this report.

REGIONAL/PROVINCIAL COUNCILS (MODEL-1)

33. This experiment of regional/provincial autonomy will be the first of its kind in the country. Some guidelines regarding the constitution, elections and the subjects to be allocated to these Councils may be provided by District and Hill Councils established elsewhere in the country.

34. This Committee recommends the establishment of Regional/Provincial Councils in the State to meet the requirement of devolution of power to different Regions/Provinces in the State. This Regional/Provinces Council may be set up according to the classification of Regions/Provinces as provided in the Annexure 'A' to this report.

1. The Regional/Provincial Councils should be elected in the same manner in which the state legislature is elected. The delimitation of the constituencies should be carried out by the State Election Commission constituted for this purpose. The number of constituencies should be determined in a manner that at least two members from each Block are elected to the Council according to the constituencies delimited for this purpose. There should be a reservation of 25% seats for women in the Council. The leader of the majority party so elected in the Region/Province shall head the Regional/Provincial Council and be designated as Chief Executive Councillor. He/She shall have the status of Ministers of the State. He/She shall not have more than four Executive Councillors to aid and assist him/her.

2. The establishment of Regional/Provincial Councils shall, in no way, affect the institutions of the State, viz; Governor, Chief Minister and his Cabinet, Legislative Assembly, Judiciary and State cadre of services. These institutions shall continue as they are.

3. The Regional/Provincial Councils shall enjoy the executive and taxation powers which should be limited to the subjects allocated to the Council. These subjects should be allocated keeping in view the specificities of Jammu & Kashmir State. In this behalf, the experience of District Councils established elsewhere in the country could provide some guidance. However, this matter needs to be examined carefully by a Committee of Experts which may be constituted separately. There is equally a need to amend the State Constitution which would define the powers of the Councils as well as provide the mechanism for transferring of items from one list to another, i.e. from the State to Regional/Provincial list or vice versa. There is also need to evolve a mechanism to deal with the situation where the Regional/Provincial Council has lost the majority, or has failed to carry on its functions within the provisions of the State Constitution, or is working against the interests of the State or the Country.

4. It is well recognize that political autonomy is tethered to financial autonomy. However, as observed elsewhere, that this would be the first ever experiment of this nature in the country, the selection of subjects to be dealt with by the Regional/Provincial Councils and the areas of allocation of funds and powers of taxation etc. need to be worked out carefully. It is equally a fact that different Regional/Provincial of the State do not face uniform problems. For instance, the development problems of Nundabad Region and the problems of Maraz are not the same. In the same vein, the development problems which these Regions/Provinces face are not similar to the problems in Chenab Valley Region. This Committee is of the view that the basic objective of regional autonomy is to replace the mechanisms and processes of centralized decision making in governance and development by decentralized institutions which would hamper social development in the Regions/Provinces. This Committee is of the view that patterns of financial autonomy of Panchayati Raj institutions as prevailing in Karnataka, West Bengal and Kerala be further studied and a model for the financial autonomy of the Regional/Provincial Councils be evolved. An Experts Committee may be constituted to propose a model for a financial autonomy for the Councils.

DISTRICT COUNCILS (MODEL-II)

35. This Committee is aware of the commitment of the Government in the State towards promoting better involvement and participation of people in different regions for a balanced political, economic, social, cultural and educational development. In this behalf, as discussed and proposed in foregoing paras of this report, the Regional/Provincial Councils would be the ideal institutions to achieve these objectives.

1. The Committee has suggested in its Approach Paper that more than one approach may be adopted in dealing with the issue of internal autonomy in the State. The Committee is of the view that this alternative approach may also be spelled out for the consideration of alternative approach may also be spelled out for the consideration of the Government. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Government may consider setting up District Councils as an alternative to the Regional/Provincial Councils. In view of the experience of District Councils elsewhere in the country, the Committee feels that these Councils in coordination with Panchayati Raj institutions can be effective agents in augmenting the processes leading to faster pace of human development, besides providing effective organs of local self government. The State has been a forerunner in introducing the concept of 'District Planning' by initiating 'Single Line Administration' in the year 1976. The system was introduced to meet the aspirations of common man by making the planning more effective and ensuring speedy implementation of development programmes. In order to further democratise the system, the District Development Commissioners were replaced by Ministers of the Cabinet as chairpersons of District Development Boards. The Committee is of the view that this experiment has been quite fruitful. The establishment of District Councils shall, drawing upon this experience, completely democratise the processes of planning and development at the District level.

36. The Committee, therefore, recommends that in case this model of internal autonomy is accepted, suitable amendment in the Constitution of the State should be carried out.

37. The District Councils may be established in the existing districts of the entire Jammu & Kashmir State.

38. The District Councils should be elected in the same manner in which the State Legislature is elected. The delimitation of the constituencies should be carried out by the State Election Commission constituted for this purpose. The number of constituencies should be determine in a manner that at least two members from each Block are elected from the constituencies delimited for this purpose. There should be a reservation of 25% seats for women in the Council. The leader of the majority party in the Council shall be designated as Chief Councillor and shall have the status of Minister of the State. He/She shall have not more than four Executive Councillors to aid and assist him/her.

39. The District Councils shall enjoy the executive and taxation powers which should be limited to the subjects allocated to the Council. These subjects should be allocated keeping in view the specificities of Jammu and Kashmir State. In this regard, the experience of District Councils functioning elsewhere in the country could provide some guidance. The Committee also recommends that an Experts Committee, proposing the subjects to be allocated to the District Councils, be constituted.

39.1. The Committee also recommends the evolving of mechanisms to deal with the transfer of subjects from the State list to District list and vice versa. There is also need to evolve the mechanism of dealing with a situation where the leader of the majority party has lost the majority in the Council, or has failed to carry on its functions within the provisions of the State Constitution, or is working against the interests of the State or Country.

40. The Committee recommends that the issue relating to the allocation of funds and the powers of taxation may be assigned to a committee of Experts which should be constituted for this purpose. It needs to be recognized that the problems of development of different districts are not uniform.

CONCLUSIONS

1. This Committee is aware of the commitment of the Government in the State towards promoting better involvement and participation of people in different regions for balanced political, economics, educational, social and cultural development.

2. The Committee recognizes that there is a perception of neglect and injustice, real or imaginary, existing among the groups in the diverse regions/provinces of the State. The Committee is of the view that there is urgency in evolving the mechanisms of decentralization of political and economic power to the grassroots level. There is equally an urgency to empower the local organs of State power.

1. In order to achieve the foregoing objective, the Committee has recommended the formation of Regional/Provincial Councils in the State. The Committee is of the view that identifying the Regions/Provinces at this point of time has a special relevance in achieving the objective of devolution of power and bringing about the speedy social development by providing the opportunities of democratic governance and participation in developmental programmes to the ethnic identities in the State.

2. The Committee is also of the view that another approach of satisfying the urges of local self-governance and devolution of political and economic power to people at the grassroots lies through the constituting of District Councils. The Committee has elaborately discussed the reasons of proposing an alternative model of District Councils.

3. The Committee leaves it to the discretion of the Government to accept and adopt one or the other model for the State as recommended in this report. The Committee also recommends that Government may constitute an Experts Committee and seek its opinion on the proposed models before taking a final decision in this behalf.

4. The Committee is of the view that constituting the Regional/Provincial or District Councils will have an enormous impact on the existing administrative structures in the State. Therefore, the Committee recommends constituting a Finance Commission for the Jammu and Kashmir State. The Commission would recommend the methods and mechanisms of raising the funds, devolving the funds to different organs and provide the norms for transfers from the consolidated fund of the State to Regional/Provincial or District Councils.

5. The Committee recommends that necessary amendments to the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, after the decision of adopting the model of Regional/Provincial Councils or the model of district Council s has been taken by the Government, should be carried out in order to bring a particular model within the Constitution framework of the State.

6. The Committee recommends that necessary changes in the functioning of Academy of Art, Culture and Languages may be carried out in order to implement the recommendations made in the report.

7. The Committee also recommends the early setting up of Municipal Corporations in the capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu in view of the changing face of these two completely urbanised cities of the State.

8. The Committee recommends that in any set-up adopted by the Government, a special consideration may be shown for the development of the comparatively most backward and hilly areas of the State, viz. Lohai Malhar, Bani, Dudu Basantgarh, Panchari, Paddar, Marwah, Tangdar, Gurais and Uri.

9. The Committee expresses its gratitude to the people, political leaders, activists, writers, teachers, doctors from different regions of the State for extending their co-operation by interacting with the Committee.

10. The Committee concludes this report on this note

(Sd.) SYED MUSHTAQ BUKHARI
MLA

(Sd.) MUBARAK GUL
MLA

(Sd.) MOHAMMAD SHAFI
Finance Minister