VoL Desk, June 11, 2022: Giving clarification on the controversial establishment of the Greater Kargil Development Authority (GKDA), Chairman and CEC Feroz Ahmad Khan said that the new authority is limited to implementing the Smart City Mission only.

The CEC expressed the clarification in a press conference today where he said that a meeting had been held in this regard with all stakeholders including urban local bodies and town councilors. “It was decided in the meeting to form the Authority after consultation with local representatives. The meeting had not reached a final decision”, said CEC Feroz.

“But, in haste, the UT Administration constituted and notified the committee on June 01, under the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970. Later, we found that the land acquisition, land usage and other powers were kept on the disposal of the Development Authority. Accordingly, I immediately reacted on the issue and penned a letter to the Commissioner/ Secretary A.K Sahu”, the CEC maintained in the press conference.

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“It is to mention here that, under section 23, Sub section (1) of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, the Council has the executive powers in the district in relation to the allotment, use and occupation of land vested in the Council by the Government under this Act. Further, the erstwhile Government of Jammu Kashmir vide SRO 182 of 2003 dated 06.06.2003, has delegated its executive powers to the council for allotment, occupation, efficient use and management of land to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils”, read the CEC letter to AK Sahu.

“Sub section (2) of section 3 of The Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970 mentions that the Development Authority shall have the power of property, both movable and immovable. Further, Section 6 of the said act provides that the acquire, hold and dispose Development Authority under this act shall have the power to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of land and other property, to carry out building, engineering and other operations”, read the letter.

“Keeping in view the delegation of executive powers with respect to State Land in the district to Autonomous Hill Councils, you are requested to clarify: 1. Is the state land in areas mentioned in “Local area” being transferred to the newly created Authority, constituted vide S.O. 75 dated 01/06/2022? 2. Who will have power to allot Land in local area defined vide S.O.75 of Housing and Urban Development Department, UT Ladakh, dated 01/06/2022?

“Unless these points are clarified, you are requested to ensure that no action is initiated in contravention of the section 23(1) of the LAHDC Act, 1997 and SRO 182 of 2003 dated 06.06.2003”, the letter maintained.

The CEC said that unless the above questions are clarified no action will be allowed on the ground under the purview of the newly established Development Authority.

“I have also maintained that the identified areas will be included in the Local Area only with consent from “members” of the areas”, the CEC said in the press conference.

He further said that in the Ladakh Development Conclave, this issue was also discussed where the LG instructed to keep the decision on hold and maintained that until there is no common consensus of all stakeholders, this decision will not be implemented. I also have requested to withdraw the decision in regard to the Kargil district.

On asking the reason for not taking the local public representatives on board, CEC said that the LAHDC has not given consent to the Development Authority unless the local representatives consent. “We were in the process of discussion and had not reached a final decision. Meanwhile, the UT Administration in haste constituted the Development Authority to which we immediately reacted. We were not even aware of constituting the Authority under the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970”, the CEC said.