Amit Shah to chair J&K security meet on Dec 19, vital orders expected

Jammu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a high-level security review meeting on J&K on December 19 and some important orders regarding the UT are expected to be issued.

Officials said that Amit Shah will chair the meeting which will be attended by top brass of the Central and J&K intelligence officers. Top officers of administration, police, CAPFs and others connected with the security grid are attending the meeting.

Official sources indicate that some important orders are expected to be issued around the scheduled date of the meeting.

There are speculations that the rules of business detailing the division of powers between the L-G and the Chief Minister are in the final stage of completion at the MHA and there is a possibility that these could be announced around the Union Home Minister’s review meeting.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has already made the division of powers between the L-G and the elected government a major issue.

In a recent interview, Omar Abdullah said that the dual power centre in J&K is a recipe for disaster. It is to address the growing confusion between the Raj Bhavan and the Council of Ministers regarding the issuance of the rules of business.

Sources in the MHA have told IANS that as long as J&K is a union territory, there is no scope for confusion with regard to the duties and powers assigned to the L-G and the Chief Minister.

They said that police, IAS/IPS officers, law & order, anti-corruption bureau, prisons and prosecution are under the L-G directly and there should be no misgiving about this.

“So far as development, tourism, employment, education, agriculture, horticulture. healthcare, environment and forests, social welfare, power development department, Jal Shakti department, irrigation & flood control, PDS and several other departments are concerned, these come under the Council of Ministers that have complete control over these vital departments,” they said.

In addition to addressing the ground situation and taking details about the successes and shortcomings of the anti-terror grid in J&K, the Home Minister could ensure that the misgivings about dual power centres in J&K are finally put to rest.

About the grant of statehood, the Union Minister again made it clear two days back that J&K would get its full statement at the right time when everything connected with the grant of statehood and its ramifications on the ground situation is fully discussed and decided.

IANS