J&K DDC members up in arms after govt places them at bottom of precedence list

The newly elected district development council (DDC) members in Jammu and Kashmir are up in arms against the government over the new warrant of precedence that puts them at the bottom.

On Monday, the J&K government besides fixing the monthly honorarium of DDC chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and members, also allotted them equivalent ranks in the bureaucratic hierarchy.

According to the order, the DDC chairpersons have been placed at serial number 26 in the list of precedence which among others included Divisional Commissioners, Inspector Generals of Police, joint secretaries to the union government and officers of equivalent rank besides the administrative secretaries and officers of the rank of Major General or equivalent rank.

The DDC vice-chairpersons have been placed at serial number 27, equivalent to the vice-chancellors of universities within the state/Union Territory followed by DDC members at the end of the warrant of precedence.

In a separate order, the government also finalised the monthly honorarium to the chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and DDC members in the Union Territory. According to the order, DDC chairpersons would get monthly honorarium of Rs 35,000, vice chairpersons Rs 25,000 and members Rs 15,000.

However, in protest against the government’s decision, the DDC members, cutting across party lines on Tuesday, boycotted the scheduled two-day training programme in Jammu. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha was scheduled to address the inaugural day of the event as the chief guest.

But the event could not take off after the members staged a sit-in against the government order. The protesting members demanded a roll back of the government order and did not budge despite repeated appeals from the administration including deputy commissioner Jammu, Sushma Chauhan, reports said.

The protesting members said that they would continue their protest and boycott the event till their demand is not met. As the protest continued, LG Sinha did not turn up to attend the function till the filing of this report.

Safina Beig, DDC chairperson, Baramulla, asked that if they don’t have authority how could they work for people? “This was the first major political outreach that the government had made after 2019 and there were expectations of the people attached with it,” Safina, who is wife of former J&K Deputy Chief Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, said.

The maiden DDC elections to 280 seats -- 14 each in 20 districts -- were held in November-December last year and the chairpersons and vice chairpersons in all the 20 districts were elected last month.