Jammu, Feb 5 (PTI) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to abolish the Union Territory-with-Assembly system, while expressing hope that long-pending Transaction of Business Rules would be approved in the coming days to end “governance confusion” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Replying to a debate on the motion of thanks to the lieutenant governor’s address in the assembly, Abdullah said the sooner the UT-with-Assembly system is removed from the Constitution, the more beneficial it would be for the country.

“It is true that working in a Union Territory is extremely difficult. I hold my ears and ask who came up with this model of a UT with an Assembly. I say this openly— if our Prime Minister wants to give a gift to this country, it should be to abolish this system.

"If you want to keep a UT, then do not keep an Assembly; and if an area is fit to have an Assembly, then make it a state,” the chief minister said during his over an hour-long speech.

Referring to the speech of a legislator who recently claimed that the chief minister had himself admitted that officers do not listen to him, Abdullah said “though there is no truth in the statement but it is extremely difficult to run the government with your hands tied behind the back through this UT-with-Assembly model, which is a huge betrayal of the people’s mandate”.

“How difficult it is to work under these conditions...while preparing a budget, would you change your finance secretary 10 days before presenting it?” Abdullah asked Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, who had been finance minister several times in the past.

“We were preparing the budget, and on social media I read that the finance secretary of Jammu and Kashmir— because now we are part of the UT cadre and transfers are not in our control— has been transferred to Delhi with immediate effect. This is the situation. Tell me, is there anywhere else in the country where, while a budget is being prepared, the finance secretary is suddenly told goodbye,” Abdullah said.

Thankfully, he said, after speaking with the chief secretary, it was ensured that the finance secretary is retained till February 9.

“Otherwise, he would have left, and I do not know under what circumstances the budget would have been prepared. This is the situation.

“The most important post in administration is considered to be the Resident Commissioner in Delhi, because his job is to coordinate with the central government, follow up on projects, and secure approvals. But our Resident Commissioner’s post has been given as an additional charge to the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu. Now tell me, how will the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu also handle the work of the Resident Commissioner in Delhi?” he said.

Abdullah, however, expected hope that the long pending Business Rules would be approved in the coming days.

“Until our Business Rules are approved—and work on this is ongoing—it will take time because it is a complex issue...I am fully confident that in the coming days our Business Rules will be fixed. Until we receive full statehood, this confusion over Business Rules continues to trap many of our issues,” he said.

The Jammu and Kashmir government framed the Transaction of Business Rules in March last year and sent the file to the LG for approval to facilitate smooth governance without confusion. PTI TAS TAS KVK KVK