The Centre has ordered changes in the domicile status rules for Government jobs in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and also amended 109 erstwhile State Acts and repealed 29 Acts, drawing flak from the political parties of the Union Territory.
According to the notification, anyone who has resided in J&K for 15 years or has studied in the State for seven years, and appeared in either the Class 10/12 examination, will be eligible for domicile certificates. This would allow them to apply for gazetted and non-gazetted Government jobs. The new rules also state that migrants registered by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner need not fulfil the amended requirements.
According to the new rules, children of officials with the Central Government, all India services, public sector undertakings, public sector banks, statutory bodies, Central universities and recognised research institutes of the Central Government who have served in J&K for 10 years will also be eligible to apply for gazetted and non-gazetted Government jobs in the UT. The drastic changes were implemented through the J&K Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020, issued late Tuesday by the Centre.
As per the earlier rules, only J&K residents were eligible to apply for jobs or own immovable property in the erstwhile State. The Union Government’s new decision comes amid apprehension in the UT that there would be a demographic change in J&K following the scrapping of Article 370, which guaranteed State subjects the right to jobs, owning property and legislating laws. It also comes at a time when J&K, along with the rest of the country, continues to be under a lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The latest MHA order also defines domicile as an administrative category rather than identity-based residency.
In the gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, classified as extraordinary, the Centre has repealed the J&K Civil Services (special provisions) Act.
It has also introduced changes in Sections 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 13 of the J&K Civil Services (decentralisation and recruitment) Act, 2010. The Act is among 109 laws of the erstwhile State that have been amended through Tuesday’s order that also repeals 29 other laws. While Section 5A now states that no person shall be eligible for appointment to a post carrying a pay scale for not more than Level 4 “unless he is a domicile of UT of J&K”, in Sections 6, 7 and 8 the words “permanent resident of the State” have been substituted with “Domicile of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir”. These sections of the J&K Civil Services Act, 2010, dealt with appointments at district, divisional and State levels.
The Section 13 of J&K Civil Services Act, 2010, which has been omitted completely, defined residence in the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir. The new rules have also been extended to children of those who fulfil the above mentioned criteria even if they do not live in J&K.
Political parties in the Valley termed the Centre’s new rule as adding insult to injury of the people as the rule lacked the promised protections. The National Conference termed the new rules as hollow and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the rules will give rise to massive problems for residents of J&K.
“Talk about suspect timing. At a time when all our efforts & attention should be focused on the #COVID outbreak the Government slips in a new domicile law for J&K. Insult is heaped on injury when we see the law offers none of the protections that had been promised,” National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said in a series of tweets. The former Chief Minister who just released from detention said the new law was so hollow that even politicians with “Delhi’s blessings” were forced to criticise it.
“You can imagine how hollow the domicile law is from the fact that even the new party created with Delhi’s blessings, whose leaders were lobbying in Delhi for this law, have been forced to criticise the #JKdomicilelaw,” he added. Omar was apparently referring to the criticism of the domicile law by Jammu & Kashmir Apni Party founder Altaf Bukhari.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the rules will give rise to massive problems for residents of J&K.
“The domicile law as it appears is not only trying to shake the boundaries of an already existing State, but it is also trying to give rise to massive problems for residents of J&K,” tweeted the PDP.
The party said the Centre’s “manipulation of the law” would only further alienate the people.
“As the GOI (Government of India) tries to manipulate a law that provides guarantees to Kashmiris, it is only further alienating people, by depriving them of their constitutional rights. When GOI imposes orders that relegate elected Kashmiri leaders to nothingness, GOI shows how it doesn’t want local Kashmiris to govern the land they fought for,” the PDP said.
Jammu & Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) led by Sajad Gani Lone said the Presidential order defining the domicile law issued at the depth of night while the world is under the grip of a deadly pandemic, falls way short of expectations even for those who expected some relief and some reconciliation process.
