Govt Forms 3-Member Advisory Committee To Oversee Bifurcation Of J&K

The Centre has formed a three-member advisory committee to oversee the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir state into two Union Territories and look into the distribution of assets and liabilities between Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory and Ladakh Union Territory, which will come into existence on October 31. The Union Home Ministry, in a notification, said the panel will be headed by former Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and retired IAS officer Arun Goyal and retired Indian Civil Accounts Service officer Giriraj Prasad will be its members.

In the exercise of the powers conferred by Section 84 and Section 85 of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Central Government hereby constitutes the advisory committee. Section 84 of the Act says that the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state have to be distributed among the two Union Territories. Section 85 of the Act says that the Central government can constitute one or more committees to look into the matters of apportionment of assets, rights, and liabilities of the companies and corporations for newly created Union Territories.

The notification said the advisory committee shall start functioning with immediate effect and will initially have a term of six months, which shall be extended further if required. Parliament last month passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill 2019 to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories — Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Union Territory of Ladakh without a legislature. The state’s special status granted under Article 370 was also abolished last month.