DCs, ADCs apptd as administrators of Municipal Councils, Committees

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday appointed Deputy Commissioner and Additional District Development Commissioners (DCs) as Administrators of Municipal Councils (ADCs) and Municipal Committees for a period of 6 months.
The development comes weeks after the five-year term of Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation came to an end. The five-year term of JMC ended on November 14, and that of SMC on November 5.
The Urban Local Bodies elections for Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation were held in 2018. After the five-year tenure ended, elections of Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats were scheduled to be held between October and December.
However, the elections were delayed. Earlier this month, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that elections for Urban Local Bodies would be held after the completion of the delimitation exercise of respective wards. LG Sinha made these remarks after facilitating the councilor of Jammu Municipal Corporation.
Meanwhile, a notification in this regard has been issued by the Housing and Urban Development Department.
S.O.-595 In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (2-A) of Section 14 and sub-section (1) of Section 269 of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000, the Government hereby appoint Deputy Commissioners/Additional District Development Commissioners of the following Districts as Administrator(s), of the Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees of the Districts respectively, for a period of six months or until the establishment of the Municipality, whichever is earlier, reads the notification issued by Prashant Goyal, Principal Secretary to the Government Housing & Urban Development Department.
As per the notification, the Deputy Commissioners will be administrators of concerned districts of Municipal Councils, while Additional District Development Commissioners will be administrators of Municipal Committees.
There are a total of 77 ULBs in the UT, including 40 in the Kashmir division and 37 in the Jammu division.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Block Development Councils and District Development Councils will remain in place. Terms of BDCs will expire in October 2024 and that of DDCs in January 2026 as their elections were held for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, completing a three-tier system in the Union Territory.