Srinagar, Sept 29: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and Law Secretary Achal Sethi have separately written to the Legislative Assembly Secretariat seeking that a resolution on restoration of statehood not be taken up, NDTV reported.
The communications were sent three days after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah moved the resolution in the Assembly, where it was subsequently admitted by the House.
According to the report, the two officials cited the matter being sub judice while urging the Assembly Secretariat to disallow the resolution.
The move drew a sharp response from Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, who said there was no precedent for the bureaucracy communicating with the Assembly Secretariat in such a manner.
“I don’t think there is any precedent, bureaucracy writing to the Assembly secretariat to scuttle the business of the House. That too without the approval of the minister concerned,” Rather told NDTV.
The Speaker said such a communication, sent without the approval of the minister concerned, amounted to an attempt to undermine the functioning of the House.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the Law portfolio, said he had no prior knowledge of the letters and learnt about them only after the Assembly Secretariat informed him.
Raising the issue in the Assembly, Omar questioned how officials could communicate their opinion on a resolution moved by him without his knowledge.
“Speaker sir, I’m the Law Minister and also Chief Minister but I have no knowledge of my bureaucracy sending an opinion to you on my resolution. I do not know on whose instructions it was sent,” Omar said, according to NDTV.
Omar also linked the episode to Jammu and Kashmir’s present status as a Union Territory, arguing that the absence of full statehood had created a situation in which the elected government does not exercise complete authority over the bureaucracy.
The development comes amid the Assembly’s consideration of the statehood resolution, with the role of the elected government and the administration emerging as a point of contention over the proposed House business.
