Power tussle between LG’s office, elected NC Govt comes into open in J&K

The simmering power tussle in J&K has come into the open with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha claiming that he only controls the police while the rest of the departments fall within the domain of the elected Government. This has prompted sharp reactions on Sunday from the ruling National Conference (NC) questioning the extent of Raj Bhawan’s involvement in governance.

The flashpoint came on Saturday when the Lt Governor, during his visit to Anantnag in South Kashmir, visited the family of Adil Hussain Shah, the only local Kashmiri among the 26 tourists shot dead by terrorists in Pahalgam, and handed over the job appointment letter to his wife, Gulnaz Akhter, on compassionate grounds. The LG, while addressing another function of the closing ceremony of the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, said that only the police come under his control, while the rest of the departments fall within the domain of the elected Government.

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Slamming the LG for claiming that he controls only the Police and handing over the appointment letter to Adil’s widow, the NC’s chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq wrote on X, “Either what he said in south Kashmir is true or what his office claimed later is true, both can’t be right. If he only has Home, how did he do this? And if he did, it’s clear interference. This is exactly why dual power must end & full statehood must be restored”.

The ongoing tug of war has raised questions on who really runs Jammu and Kashmir.

Sadiq gave credit to the ruling NC for the appointment letters to the widow of Adil and the next of kin (NoKs) of those killed in Pakistan’s shelling in Poonch during the ‘Operation Sindoor’.

He wrote on X; “We thank LG Sahab for handing over the job order that was already prepared by the Fisheries Dept,  a department under the elected government led by Minister Javed Dar. This reflects the maturity and responsibility shown by the elected government; we did not allow egos to come in the way, but stood by our commitment to Adil’s family in their moment of grief. Just as earlier, the elected government had prepared similar job orders for NoKs in Poonch, which were later distributed by the Home Minister after the CM had personally visited and personally committed these jobs to the families immediately after the shelling. In moments of pain, politics must make way for compassion, and governance must honour its word”.

An official release issued late at night said that “There is no role of the Fisheries Department in granting relaxation as well as appointment in the instant case. The appointment of Gulnaz Akhter has been made by the Lieutenant Governor under exceptional circumstances, as her husband was a civilian and not a Government employee. Further, an appointment has been made in relaxation of her educational qualification.”

“The appointment of Gulnaz Akhter has been made by the Lieutenant Governor in exercise of the discretionary powers conferred under Clause-2A of Jammu and Kashmir Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme, 2022, in relaxation of her educational qualification. The conferment of relaxation of age/qualification for appointment under J&K Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme-2022 solely lies with the Lieutenant Governor”, the official release said.

The tussle between the two has been going on for the past some time. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is learnt to have recently taken up the matter of transfer of officers by the LG with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, complaining that a series of actions by the LG, including the transfers, eroded the authority of his elected government.

Omar Abdullah, while sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during flagging of the train to Kashmir, made a fresh push to restore the statehood of J&K. He pointed out that while Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha was promoted from Minister of State to his current post, “I was demoted from being a Chief Minister of a state to that of a Union Territory”.