4 years after unbiased member Nazir Ahmad Khan was elected chairman of the District Growth Council (DDC) in Budgam, he was eliminated after a no-confidence movement in opposition to him was handed by 13 of the 14 members within the Council. The vote befell after the 13 members of the council petitioned the Jammu and Kashmir Excessive Courtroom looking for instructions to convene a gathering of the council, for the reason that chairman didn’t convene a single assembly of the council over the past 4 years.
The DDCs have been envisaged because the third tier of governance in J&Ok underneath the Panchayati Raj system. Straight elected from rural constituencies of every district, the DDCs have a developmental mandate working in shut coordination with the district administration. Elections to kind first such councils have been performed in December 2020 after which the 14 members in every district elected a chairperson and his deputy.
In Budgam, regardless of a majority for the Nationwide Convention, then unbiased Councillor Nazir Khan received chairmanship. Nonetheless, a 12 months after he was elected to guide the council, members started protesting in opposition to Khan citing his failure to “ship any form of developmental objectives on the bottom.” With the chairperson because the authority for convening a gathering, Council member Abdul Ahad Dar mentioned: “It was handy for them to not name a gathering in any respect”.
In line with the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, which governs the creation and conduct of the DDCs, “the Chairperson shall convene no less than 4 conferences of the District Growth Council in a monetary 12 months, one in every quarter which shall be referred to as the atypical or basic assembly”. Khan, nonetheless, didn’t convene these conferences.
The matter first went to courtroom in 2024 and regardless of an order in March final 12 months directing authorities to behave on the petitioner’s grievance and a subsequent contempt movement, the council nonetheless didn’t meet.
The 13 members handed a contemporary no-confidence movement in December 2024. Nonetheless, in accordance with Dar, the DC didn’t act, compelling the petitioners to maneuver courtroom once more. On March 3 this 12 months, Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani directed the Deputy Commissioner Budgam to “instantly tackle” the no-confidence movement after which a gathering of the council was scheduled for on April 7, 2025.
In the meantime, Khan filed a petition looking for a keep on the no-confidence assembly scheduled for April 7 however the petition was dismissed. Following the courtroom’s directive, the assembly was held Monday and Khan was voted out, with all 13 members current supporting the movement.
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The order additionally calls out the “inaction” on the a part of the Deputy Commissioner who has to convene a gathering on the workplace of the council for consideration of the identical.
Among the many 10 councils within the Valley, members of no less than three extra — Shopian, Ganderbal and Srinagar — have suUNccessfully moved no-confidence motions in opposition to their chairpersons. The case of Budgam is the primary such movement to undergo and take away its chairman.
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