Bill table

The central government recently introduced Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Bill, 2021, in Rajya Sabha to replace an ordinance issued on January 8, 2021, to merge IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Serve officers of the J&K cadre with that of the AGMUT cadre.

After tabling the bill government said that to provide “uniformity in the governance of all union territories (UTs)” and to further “enhance efficiency in their administration”, it is felt necessary to amend Section 88 of the Act so as to merge the existing J&K cadre with Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and union territories (AGMUT) cadre in relation to the All-India Services namely, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Forest Service”.

There are many sections in the bill define and explain different cadres and the merger. For example, Section 88 of the said Act provides that the members of the cadres of IAS, IPS, and Indian Forest Service for the existing state of J&K “shall continue to function on the existing cadres”, the minister said. He further said since there was a great deficiency of officers of the All-India Services in the UT of J&K, the development activities had been suffering a lot. Therefore, a need was felt to merge the J&K cadre with the AGMUT cadre so that the officers in this cadre could be posted in the UT of J&K to meet out any deficiency to some extent.