DCs notified constituencies for first ever DDC elections

Seeks objections before Oct 24

Jammu: Three days after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended Jammu and Kashmir Panchyati Raj Act, the Deputy Commissioners of all 20 districts in the Union Territory have issued notification for the delimitation of constituencies to the process for constituting District Development Councils (DDCs) and to complete the process of three-tier Panchyati Raj system.
It is first time in the democratic history of Jammu and Kashmir that like other parts of the country DDCs to be set up. Earlier in month of October 2019 first time Block Development Councils (BDCs) were constituted.
The delimitation notification issued by all the Deputy Commissioners of 20 districts has set October 24 as deadline for filing the objections before the final document is published.
As per the notification, each District Development Council (DDC) for all 20 districts have 14 territorial constituencies, each of which will have a directly elected member.
“Whereas, Section 45 of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, amended on October 16, of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, envisages the establishment of a DDC having jurisdiction over the entire district excluding such portion of the district as are including included in a Municipality or Municipal Corporation constituted under any law for the time being,” reads the separate notifications issued respective Deputy Commissioners.
“Whereas subsection 2 of Section 45-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Raj Act 1989 read with the Rule 108-A (1) and (2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Rules 1996 as amended by S.0. 316 dated 17th October, of Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Jammu and Kashmir requires the entire area of the District Development Council of a district to be divided into 14 single members of territorial constituencies,” the notifications read.
“Now, therefore, in terms of Rule 108-A (4) of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Rules 1996, (name of Deputy commissioner of respective district) do hereby notify the proposed district development council constituencies along with the territorial limit of each such constituency to this notification for inspection and invite objection if any to the said proposal by on before 23rd October,” as per the notification.
As per the fresh executive order, issued under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, every DDC shall consist of the directly elected members from territorial constituencies in the district, chairpersons of all Block Development Councils of the district. Once assembly elections are held, members of the Legislative Assembly whose constituencies lie within the district will also be DDC members.
After being elected and having sworn in, the members of the DDC elect from amongst themselves the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson of the Council. The MLAs, though members of the DDCs, will not have the powers to elect or remove the chairpersons and vice chairpersons.
All members of the DDC, whether or not elected by direct election from territorial constituencies in the district, shall have the right to vote in the Council's meetings. However, in case of election or removal of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman only the directly elected members shall have the right to vote.
The government appears to be inclined to have the DDC elections soon. A process for filling up the vacant Panchayat and Block Development positions, a large number of them in Kashmir valley, is already on. “Both processes are running concurrently”, said a source familiar with developments as he further asserted, “the elections to DDCs will happen only when the process of filling up vacant positions is over”.
The rush with which government is going about the DDC elections is also indicative further delay in constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature following the delimitation. In the absence of legislative assembly representatives, the formation of DDCs could trengthen local bodies under which a new power structure will be created in every district. This can be helpful till the delimitation commission submits its report and the Election Commission conducts polls in the newly carved out union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier in March this year, the Centre announced the delimitation process for reworking the legislative constituencies. The delimitation commission is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai.
The latest decision, at appears, has been taken to ensure that development is carried out in every area with more participation of the people -- what was earlier done by the elected representatives of the assembly.
The DDC will replace the District Development Boards, which earlier, when Jammu and Kashmir was a state, were chaired by a Cabinet Minister or a Minister of State and included MLAs and MPs.
The term of the DDC shall be five years except for holding common elections to all levels of the Panchayats simultaneously so that all the tiers have co-extensive terms in the district.
The DDC will have jurisdiction over the entire district excluding Municipality or Municipal Corporation areas, it said.
Every DDC will have a District Development Council Fund, comprising grants by the government and its own resources. The Council will pay remuneration to its staff by using its own resources, the order elaborated.
The DDC shall have powers to acquire, hold or dispose of property or enter into a contract in accordance with the rules prescribed, it said.
For every district, there will be a District Planning Committee which will consider and guide the formulation of development programmes for the district and indicate priorities for various schemes and consider issues relating to the speedy development and economic upliftment of the district, to function as a working group for formulation of periodic and annual plans for the district, to formulate and finalise the plan and non-plan budget for the district.
The DDC will have powers to prepare plans or monitor activities of departments like agriculture, animal, sheep, fisheries and horticulture, consumer affairs, and public distribution, education, forest, health and family welfare, industries and commerce, PWD, public health engineering, irrigation, flood control, revenue, social welfare, tourism and rural development.
With the creation of the DDC, the three-tier Panchayati Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir will be completed. The other two bodies are the Halqa Panchayats and the Block Development Councils (BDCs). 'Halqa' means the area comprising a village or contiguous number of villages determined by the government.
The panchayat at each level shall every year prepare a development plan for the next year in respect of the functions vested in it, for the respective panchayat area in the form and manner prescribed and it shall be submitted to the BDC before the date prescribed which shall be called the gram panchayat development plan, the MHA order explained.
The planning process shall be initiated by the panchayats on October 2 every year and end on December 31.
The 'Halqa' panchayat shall submit the Gram Panchayat Development Plan to the BDC before the date prescribed, and the BDC shall consolidate all plans prepared by the panchayats and submit the same to the DDC, the order said.