Perks of former J-K chief ministers withdrawn

New Delhi, April 1

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers have lost all perks after the Centre repealed or amended 138 legislations of the erstwhile state.

According to a gazette notification on Wednesday, the government amended the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature Members’ Pension Act and increased the pension amount to Rs 75,000 per month from Rs 50,000.

Section 3-C of the act, under which former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir were entitled to various privileges and perks, has now been omitted.

With this amendment, the former chief ministers would not be entitled for rent-free furnished accommodation, expenditure to the limit of Rs 35,000 per annum for furnishing of the residential accommodation, free telephone calls up to the value of Rs 48,000 per annum, free electricity to the extent of Rs 1,500 per month, car, petrol, medical facilities, driver and personal assistant.

The provisions were made through a gazette notification, titled the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of State Laws) Order-2020.

Four former chief ministers of the erstwhile state—Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti—are alive and all of them are central government protectees.

The Centre also amended the Special Security Group which mans the security of the chief minister and former chief ministers. Under the new law no security would be provided to family members of serving chief minister.

At present there is no chief minister after the state was bifurcated into two union territories—Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. While Ladakh will be directly ruled from the Centre, JK is a UT with legislature.

Jammu and Kashmir Ministers’ and Ministers of State Salaries Act was also amended by the government and salaries paid to the chief minister and council of ministers would not be taxable.

The Jammu and Kashmir Ministers’ and Presiding Officers’ Medical Facility Act, under which free medical care was provided to ministers, has been repealed.

Amending the Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immoveable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, the government inserted a paragraph whereby it asked “competent authorities” shall prepare the details of irremovable property of migrants in a prescribed format and “take appropriate action to evict unauthorised occupant of such migrant property including such action as provided in section 5” of the act.

Section 5 says that if any unauthorised occupant of any migrant property refuses or fails to surrender possession, the competent authority may use force for taking possession. — PTI