Nasir Azam
Srinagar, Dec 6: In a significant move, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed two bills amending key laws relating to Jammu & Kashmir.
The Lok Sabha today cleared the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which were introduced in the House in July this year.
While the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 provides for the nomination of three MLAs – two from the Kashmiri migrant community and one from the displaced persons of Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir – in the legislative assembly of the UT, the Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) renames the “Other Social Castes” as “Other Backward Classes.”
As per The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Act-2023, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir would nominate these MLAs.
This will take the number of nominated seats in the House to five as two seats were reserved for women at the time of enactment of J&K Reorganisation Act in 2019.
With the passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha, the strength of Jammu & Kashmir Assembly would reach to 95. Out of which, election would be held for 90 seats and five would be filled by the LG through nomination.
The Jammu & Kashmir Reservation Amendment Act-2023 rechristens “Weak and Under-privileged Classes (Social Castes)” as “Other Backward Classes” in the UT.
Sources disclosed that the UT administration is likely to expand the OBC list by adding 15 more communities/classes.
The OSCs are currently entitled to four percent reservation and it could be enhanced soon, they further said.
