National Conference on Monday expressed disappointment at the PDP-BJP Government demeaning the stature and writ of the State Cabinet by referring every administrative decision to New Delhi for prior approval before being approved by the Cabinet.Referring to the recent failure of the Cabinet to even discuss the Kashmir Police Service (KPS) restructuring in terms of avenues of promotion of KPS officers at par with their KAS counterparts, NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani said the constitution of a Cabinet Subcommittee on this issue is a mere deflection of the Chief Minister standing her ground on this issue.“Restructuring of the Kashmir Police Service so that young KPS officers have the same parity in terms of promotional avenues as KAS officers is a vital issue and will deliver justice to our young state cadre police officers. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had been a strong advocate of this restructuring and National Conference has and will continue to support this move,” NC said in a statement issued to KNS.
The statement further reads if the Government is serious about this issue the Chief Minister should show some bare minimum conviction and get this issue discussed and duly approved by the Cabinet.Referring this decision to New Delhi in the guise of a committee’s report is unfortunate”, the NC Provincial President said.He said the decision to form a Cabinet Subcommittee to constitute a report on this issue is just a complicated manner of surrender by the Chief Minister as BJP has clearly opposed this move.“Rather than walking out of the Cabinet and then buckling to BJP’s pressure – the Chief Minister should stick to her stand and as an opposition we will support this move above and beyond partisan politics as this demand is based on fairness. Why should KPS officers suffer due to the Government’s inaction or because of PDP’s subservience to the BJP”, he added.“If the State Cabinet has to get all moves and decisions unofficially vetted from New Delhi before taking any action, what is the fun of having Cabinet Meetings? The Chief Minister has made a joke out of the State Cabinet and has denigrated the constitutional powers and stature of her own chair. This is extremely unfortunate and is a systemic political disempowerment of the State in terms of its ability and autonomy to take policy decisions”, Wani said. (KNS)