December 11 marked an important day for Jammu and Kashmir as the Parliament gave its nod to the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, amending key laws in the Union Territory.
The Rajya Sabha gave its assent to the Bills, which were introduced in the Parliament in July 2023, on Monday. The Lok Sabha had cleared them last week.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 modified the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004, related to the reservation in jobs and admission to professional institutions for members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, along with socially and educationally backward classes.
The Bill has replaced the phrase “weak and under-privileged classes” with “other backward classes,” as declared by the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It aimed to eliminate the original definition of weak and under-privileged classes.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 amended the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which facilitated the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
This amendment proposed to increase the total number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly from 107 to 114, of which seven would be reserved for the Scheduled Caste members and nine for the legislators belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. As per the J&K Reorganisation Act, 24 seats of the Assembly will remain vacant until the occupation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir ceased.
After the amendment, the effective strength of the Assembly would increase to 90 from current 83.
The Bill would give power to the Lieutenant Governor to nominate up to two members from the Kashmiri migrant community to the Legislative Assembly, with one nominee being a woman.
Besides, one member representing displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir may be nominated.
‘Kashmiri Migrants’ are defined as persons who migrated from the Kashmir valley or any other part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir after November 1, 1989, and are registered with the Relief Commissioner.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the August, 2019 decision of the Central government, by which it repealed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution.